Glencore Technology’s ISACYCLE™ to Process e-Material in Spain
Media release
Brisbane, Australia
Glencore Technology will help Atlantic Copper to create the first waste recovery plant for metal fractions of e-material in southern Europe.
The ‘CirCular’ project will feature Glencore Technology’s ISACYLE™ technology to process 60,000 tonnes per year of e-material, and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2025.
According to Atlantic Copper, the works will begin in September. The company is investing 310 million euros in the project, which will move Spain from a recycling rate of 50 to 100% of electronic material.
The ISACYCLE™ based project will recover, among other metals, copper, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, tin and nickel from what Atlantic Copper describe as waste electrical and electronic equipment or WEEE.
The metals the company will extract are key to the world’s electrification, the transition from fossil fuels, for decarbonisation and a move toward renewable energies. And such ‘urban mining’ is regarded as an emerging complement to traditional mining to help satisfy the world’s growing demand for copper.
The project is of great environmental value. In 2019, Spain generated around 890,000 tonnes of WEEE, of which only around 370,000 tonnes were managed by authorized recyclers. The other 520,000 tonnes of disused electrical and electronic equipment are stored in homes, end up in landfills or are exported to countries where the metals might be recovered in an environmentally unfriendly way.
Atlantic Copper, Spain’s leading copper producer, will use ISACYCLE™ technology to divert that kind of waste from landfill and instead recover significant value from it.
‘CirCular’ project is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and with the EU’s Green Deal and the Plan of Reconstruction, as Copper is among the key raw materials that Europe will need to achieve that goal of a sustainable, environmentally neutral economy.
Glencore Technology’s Manager for Pyrometallurgy and Hydrometallurgy, Dr Stanko Nikolic, said the project is expected to be the first of many to utilise the company’s ISACYLE™ technology, which is a direct evolution from its well established ISASMELT™ technology.
“ISACYCLE™ has been purposefully evolved and proven to take residual waste, including e-waste, and transform it into saleable commodities. It’s a very scalable technology. This is a project featuring a plant toward the larger scale. But it is also a technology that works in a small scale, ideal for urban utilities and waste processing companies”, he said.
Dr Nikolic said the ISACYCLE™ on any scale can virtually eliminate landfill and instead produce recovered metals, a safe slag that can be used as a construction product, energy and clean offgas.
“We’re proud to be able to work with such an innovative company as Atlantic Copper. They’re building a major milestone for the region and what will become a showcase for others.”
For further information, please contact:
ISASMELTTM
e: isasmelt@glencore.com.au
Marketing: Stephen Johnson
email: Marketing team
www.glencoretechnology.com.au