Environmentally friendly recycling of PEM components.
Duration: 12/2025-11/2028
Dr. rer. nat. Marika Hofmann
+49 3731 39-2325
marika [dot] hofmann [at] bio [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (marika[dot]hofmann[at]bio[dot]tu-freiberg[dot]de)
Dennis Oßmann
+49 3731 39-4157
dennis [dot] ossmann [at] bio [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (dennis[dot]ossmann[at]bio[dot]tu-freiberg[dot]de)
In cooperation with:
- Prof. Dr. Alexandros Charitos, INEMET (Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials), TUBAF
- Frauenhofer IKTS (Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems)
- Whitecell Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG
- MEAB Chemie Technik GmbH
- Associate partner: elementarhy GmbH
PURECycle is an urban mining project focusing on sustainable recovery of critical raw materials from end-of-life catalysts of hydrogen electrolyzers.
Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers are key technologies for the efficient production of green hydrogen. Their catalyst layers contain critical raw materials such as platinum group elements, in particular iridium (Ir) and platinum (Pt). With the expansion of the hydrogen economy, demand for these elements is increasing; however, their extraction is associated with geopolitical, environmental, and social risks. Therefore, the development of sustainable and efficient recycling processes is of central importance.
The aim of the PURECycle project is to develop a sustainable and environmentally-friendly recycling concept for platinum group elements from PEM electrolyzers. Close collaboration between research and industry is a key factor for the success of the concept: while the industrial partners focus on improving the performance and durability of the catalysts, optimizing PEM designs, and investigating the use of recycled materials, TUBAF and Fraunhofer IKTS concentrate on developing a process for detaching the Ir- and Pt-containing catalyst layer as well as on advancing the recycling strategy for recovering platinum group elements. The focus is on sustainable processes, for example through the use of green chemicals and biohydrometallurgical methods. The developed recycling process will subsequently be transferred to a pilot plant and tested under practical operating conditions. In addition, the recycling concept will be evaluated and further optimized using simulation-based life cycle assessment (LCA).
For this purpose, the Microbiology and Biohydrometallurgy research group is investigating the use of bioleaching processes for the recovery of Pt and Ir from the catalyst layer. To this end, various microbial consortia and leaching conditions will first be tested and optimized, before the process will be transferred to a bioreactor and scaled up.
