Circular Materials: Recovering Critical Raw Materials from Europe's Industrial Wastewater
With support from EIT RawMaterials, Circular Materials has scaled its patented Supercritical Water Precipitation technology for recovering critical and strategic raw materials from industrial wastewater. Its Padua plant is the first facility of its kind in Europe to achieve End-of-Waste (EoW) certification and has earned recognition as a Strategic Project under the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act.
CMH0, Circular Materials’ first facility in Padua, northern Italy. Photo Courtesy of Circular Materials
Every year, thousands of tonnes of nickel, copper, chromium, and platinum group metals (PGMs) such as ruthenium leave European industrial facilities dissolved in wastewater. Treated as hazardous liquid waste and destined for landfill as sludge, these materials are chemically complex and stubbornly resistant to conventional recovery methods.
This is the gap that Circular Materials, a cleantech startup based in Padua, northern Italy and supported by EIT RawMaterials, was built to close.
Using its patented SWaP™ (Supercritical Water Precipitation) process, the startup can control the behaviour of water at supercritical conditions—above 374°C and 221 bar—at which water's chemical and physical properties change fundamentally. Under these conditions, valuable metals can be separated and recovered from even highly complex industrial wastewater streams.
"With a single process and a single technology, we are capable of processing hundreds of waste matrices, from different industries among which surface treatment, spent electrolytes and pharmaceutical,” said Marco Bersani, CEO and Co-founder of Circular Materials. “Every tonne of critical metals recovered from wastewater is a tonne Europe no longer needs to import and will not go in a local landfill or body of water.”
EIT RawMaterials has supported Circular Materials through a SAFE Agreement of €1.5 million via the ERMA Booster Call. The investment is contributing to the first replication of the SWaP™ technology at scale at Circular Materials’ new recovery facility in Ferrara, Italy, which is slated for launch by 2027. The startup has since become an Associate Partner of EIT RawMaterials. Find out here how to become a partner.
"With a single process and a single technology, we are capable of processing hundreds of waste matrices from different industries, including surface treatment, spent electrolytes and pharmaceuticals."
Marco Bersani, CEO and Co-founder of Circular Materials.
The Circular Materials team. Photo courtesy of Circular Materials
"The Circular Materials team identified a real gap in Europe's critical raw materials supply chain and built an innovative, commercially viable solution to close it. Recovering strategic metals from industrial wastewater that would otherwise be lost, that is exactly the kind of innovation Europe needs right now."
Valentina Anzoletti, Business Development Manager, EIT RawMaterials.
Founded in 2019, Circular Materials has scaled steadily from prototype to industrial deployment.
In 2024, the startup commissioned its first industrial facility in Padua, demonstrating that SWaP™ is viable at scale. Earlier this year, the plant achieved End-of-Waste (EoW) status under the EU Waste Framework Directive, which confirmed that materials recovered at the facility qualify as secondary raw materials ready to re-enter the supply chain. It is the first facility of its kind in Europe to achieve this status for critical raw materials recovered from industrial wastewater. Critical Materials is the first startup of its kind to achieve End-of-Waste (EoW) status, and in 2025 it was selected as a Strategic Project by the EU Commission under the CRM Act.
In March 2025, Circular Materials was also selected as a Strategic Project under the CRMA, as part of the RECOVER-IT consortium. The designation gives the startup access to accelerated permitting and direct engagement with the European Commission on scaling recycling and refining initiatives across member states.
The Ferrara recovery facility, scheduled to launch in 2027, will treat 20,000 tonnes of industrial wastewater and recover more than 1,000 tonnes of critical and strategic raw materials annually. The site is intended to serve as the blueprint for a wider network of recovery hubs across the EU and beyond.
Find out more about the EIT RawMaterials funding possibilities here.
