E-RECOV
Electronic waste is full of metal worth recovering, and the conventional way to get it out is to melt the feedstock in a smelter. E-RECOV does it electrochemically instead, at room temperature, recovering more of the metal while using far less chemistry, water and energy.
Recovery without the furnace
Metals are separated electrochemically rather than by melting what they are attached to. The whole process runs at room temperature, which removes the furnace, the emissions handling that goes with it, and most of the energy bill. What comes out is a higher share of the metal that was in the feed to begin with.
Built with a national laboratory
The process was developed at Idaho National Laboratory before Quantum Ventura joined the work, and has been carried from a laboratory method to commercial operation with a refining partner. That path, laboratory to plant, is the part most recovery technologies never finish.
It makes the economics work at smaller scale
Smelting only pays at volume, which is why so much electronic waste is shipped rather than processed. A room-temperature process with modest reagent and energy demands changes where the break-even sits, and therefore who can run it.
The record behind it.
Developed with Idaho National Laboratory, a Department of Energy federally funded research centre, and commercialised with Colt Refining & Recycling Inc.
| Full name | Electrochemical Recycling Electronic Constituents of Value |
|---|---|
| Partner | Idaho National Laboratory, a DOE-funded FFRDC |
| Commercial partner | Colt Refining & Recycling Inc. |
| Sponsor | U.S. Department of Energy |
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