Evolving metal extraction processes | MIT Technology Review

Lab-scale trials demonstrated that these alternative process chemistries could potentially do more than lower emissions. They could recover valuable metals from lower grade resources and industrial side streams while fundamentally altering how separation processes are performed. The opportunity is to rethink how mineral resources are used and how much value can be extracted from them, bringing in greater resource efficiency and stronger industrial competitiveness.

Understanding traditional smelting vs. new proprietary technology

Source: Outokumpu

Development of the technology began in the United States in 2021 for chromite from Outokumpu’s Kemi mine in Finland, the only chrome mine in the European Union and one of the few such operations across the Western world. Since then, Outokumpu has evolved the technology through extensive research and development, combining new process chemistries with proprietary metallurgical expertise, supported in part by a non-exclusive patent license agreement from MIT.

“The technology is a new application for separating metallic elements from materials,” explains Allanore. Historically, that separation has been achieved using carbon- and energy-intensive approaches. The new method creates a different chemical environment that enables more efficient extraction with fewer losses and fewer unwanted by-products, recovering critical materials from resources considered waste.

Innovation happens at the boundaries

EvoMaterials sits at the intersection of several scientific disciplines, a combination that strongly resonates with Stinn, who completed his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, where his research focused on low-carbon metals processing and recycling technologies.

Modern materials innovation draws on a growing mix of chemistry, materials science, physics, computational modeling, and engineering. With advanced simulation tools and AI helping researchers identify promising directions, scientific discovery still depends on experimentation and testing in the lab—on getting your hands dirty and doing the hard work.

“Science today is much more interdisciplinary than it was, and the collaboration across disciplines reveals new scientific opportunities,” says Stinn. Engineering can translate those opportunities into more efficient and cost-competitive metals production.

Building a technology platform

A technically significant aspect of EvoMaterials is that it’s not a single process, but a technology platform. Allanore compares EvoMaterials to platform technologies in other industries, where a single scientific breakthrough can enable multiple downstream applications.