SUSTAINABILITY
Less chemistry. Less waste.
More resilience.
From brown to green transition
Mining and refining contribute to global emissions. But there would be no wind, solar, batteries or EVs without critical metals. These metals power the transition, and global demand is only rising.
The challenge in numbers
Each year, refiners process roughly €500B worth of critical and precious metals. Even with state-of-the-art tech, 5–15% remains unrecovered. Tens of billions lost and strategic materials wasted.
At the same time, clean-energy technologies are multiplying demand: by 2050, critical raw materials needs grow 4–6× (IEA). New mines take 10–20 years to develop, ore grades are falling, and regulation is tighter. Supply is also concentrated in a handful of countries, which raises geopolitical risk. The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (2024) makes security of supply a strategic priority. But supply alone won’t close the gap.
What must change
Meeting demand now requires more than output. It requires smarter recovery. Today’s tools were built for volume, not precision. They are built on heavy chemistry, inflexible flowsheets, and process steps that struggle with mixed or dilute streams. Progress needs technology that can target metals selectively, adapt in real time, and prove its impact with data.
If the future is electric, metal recovery should be too.
Elmery adds a pulse-based selective electrochemistry step to existing lines.
The aim is simple: recover more metal with fewer additions and fewer steps, and keep performance stable when feeds vary.
- Low-chemical by design — Fewer additions, safer handling.
- Selective by control — Pulse parameters favor target metals, not co-deposition.
- Predictable in practice — Defined operating windows; stability measured in weeks, not hours.
- Built to adopt — Drop-in module; start small and scale by adding modules.
How we aim to do less
Sustainability must be proven, so we make sure to measure everything.
- Less chemicals — reduced consumption and handling.
- Less waste load — less recirculation and downstream treatment.
- Less energy per gram optimized — tracked and improved by tuning.
- Less variance over time — operating windows that hold for weeks.
Detailed data, methods, and anonymized pilot results are shared in briefs and case studies.
Let’s talk.
No chemicals. Fewer steps.
More metals from any concentration.
Engineered to make complex recovery simple.