Project duration: 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2020

Objective

The Challenge: Recovery of metals in the flotation circuit is affected by sulphide species that interact with the reagents and are in consequence carried up to the froth unintendedly.- Pyrite is one of the most common gangue sulphides present in mineral ores: c.a. 70%.- Successful processing of complex sulphides is key to face the coming years of extractive technology. Pyrite accompanies flotation reducing processing efficiency unless successfully depressed. The Project Output will be a process and equipment that enables the selective separation of Pyrite before it reaches the flotation circuit and lower cost in the flotation circuit which will lead to less reagent consumption, less air inlet and less energy consumption.

The solution (technology)

Contribution to strategic objectives of the KIC will be support of innovative processing techniques, enabling resource efficiency by turning impurities into valuable products, reducing energy consumption by intelligent translation of scientific output, enabling adapting technology,  and improving the cost-efficiency ratio of current industrial processes. This means that in the near future, MICRO ECOS will provide the EIT RM with an exemplary outcome, story and result. The right combination of partners and budget co-funding effort should give in this way the good expected result.In particular, MICRO ECOS has a balanced integration of the knowledge triangle: a R&D; SME as a Technology Provider for a large Company with huge global impact, closely involving world-class science from a Research Institute and implementing during the process, multidisciplinary and T-shaped education activities. MICRO ECOS is centred on the competitive market of raw materials treatment towards metal recovery covering extractive minerallurgy and metallurgy processes using a new electromagneticmetallurgy (EM-metallurgy) treatment.

Partnership

  • Trinity College Dublin, Ireland (Lead Partner)
  • Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), Spain
  • Boliden Mineral AB, Sweden
  • INNCEINNMAT S.L. (Ceinnmat), Spain

For more information, please visit the official webpage of the project.