At Particular Materials, we have patented a continuous flow technology capable of converting aqueous solutions of metal ions into ultrafine dispersions of the corresponding oxides, metals, or sulfides in water.
This process, which is the core business of Particular Materials, is intended to synthesize nanoparticle dispersions with extremely fine control on size, monodispersity, degree of aggregation, and composition.

In 2019, thanks to the EIT Raw Materials funded Project, Particular Materials was able to show that the commonly used precursors consisting of metals salts dissolved in water could be replaced with spent baths from the surface finishing industry, combining the production of high-quality nanomaterials with the removal and recovery of heavy metals from industrial wastewaters, through a sustainable and fully circular process.

As compared to incumbent technologies for wastewater treatment, our process does not produce any toxic sludge destined to landfills as special waste, steeply reducing costs. Also, we recover valuable metals to be reintroduced in the industrial process as secondary raw materials. Finally, we enable upcycling: the concept of manufacturing high-added-value compounds by directly processing metal-containing wastewaters, which is the goal of the GREEN Silver Project.

After exploring several applications, the first targeted market application for the GREEN Silver Project is the combined removal and recovery of silver from galvanic plating processes to obtain silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for different application fields, directly from galvanic wastewaters while decomposing hazardous organics, like cyanides, in the resulting aqueous byproduct.