Elemental Holdings in Vanguard of Critical Metals Recycling

Critical metals have a crucial role to play in global sustainability efforts. Such metals – including lithium, cobalt and the platinum group metals (PGMs) – are essential components in renewable energy technologies, EVs (EVs) and electronics. 

Recycling is an alternative to traditional critical metals mining, and the ESG challenges associated with this. Recycling reduces the need for new extraction, minimises waste and cuts the carbon footprint of metal production. 

The process of ‘urban mining’ – recovering metals from discarded products – is becoming ever-more important as a sustainable source of clean-energy metals.

One company in the vanguard of urban mining is Elemental Holding, a global urban mining and recycling conglomerate. The company operates in 35 countries across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia. 

It focuses on recovering critical metals from various waste streams, including electronic waste and automotive catalysts.

The company's business model bridges the gap between small suppliers and large customers, by leveraging a global network to source input materials and distribute recovered metals. 

"We act as a translator between small suppliers and large customers while ensuring proximity to all our partners and leveraging a global commercial network for both input and output materials," the company says.

Elemental says urban mining is vital because “we are marching towards a zero-emissions economy and metals required for carbon-neutral technologies could be running short within decades from now".

Elemental expands battery metals recycling capacity

The rise of EVs in particular has led to increased demand for battery metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. Elemental is responding to this trend by investing in battery recycling infrastructure, and has built the European Union's first comprehensive car battery recycling plant in Zawiercie, Poland.

This facility is recycling lithium-ion batteries from EVs and other sources of waste containing precious metals. Elemental Holding is collaborating with Polish technological universities and research institutes to develop the necessary recycling technology.

The project has received support from the Polish National Centre for Research and Development and the European Commission. Elemental Holding adds:

"We are one of 18 European companies notified by the European Commission under the European Industrial Policy, which aims to create a sustainable mobility value chain in the EU."

The company is also expanding its operations in platinum group metals (PGMs) recycling. PGMs, including platinum, palladium and rhodium, are critical components in catalytic converters, which reduce harmful emissions from vehicles. Recycling automotive catalysts is becoming increasingly important as global PGM resources are limited.

In 2022, Elemental processed over 6,000 tonnes of spent automotive catalysts containing valuable metals, driven primarily by expansion in the US.

The company explains the efficiency of PGM recycling compared to traditional mining: "The content of platinum in one ton of ore is 2-6 g, while in one ton of catalysts there is approximately 2 kg of platinum group metals."

PGMs recycling grows at Elemental Holding

Its recycling process for automotive catalysts involves removing the casing, sorting the materials according to PGM content, and grinding the ceramic inserts. The resulting material undergoes chemical analysis before being transported to metallurgical and steelwork concerns for further processing.

The company adds: "Recycling of automotive catalysts enables recovery of up to 95% of platinum content. It also saves significant amounts of energy compared to traditional mining."

The company anticipates growing demand for PGMs due to increasingly stringent emission standards and the emerging green hydrogen industry. Platinum is used as a catalyst in the electrolysis process for producing green hydrogen.

As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, the recycling of critical metals will play an increasingly important role. Urban mining companies like Elemental Holding are positioned to meet this growing demand while contributing to global sustainability efforts.

Elemental says: "We strongly believe that in a world facing severe climate challenges, no waste containing valuable metals deserves to be dumped and sent off to landfills."