PureZinc - Zinc recycling by intelligent sorting and vacuum purification

A consortium formed by companies (PEPS engineering, Zinacor and Comet Traitements), a Research Centre (CRM) and a University (ULiège, GeMMe) is developing an innovative process that makes it possible to recycle and purify complex metallic zinc from various sources. This process is organised in a Flow Sheet made up of four technological bricks, several of which constitute a breakthrough in relation to conventional recycling processes. The ́innovation also results from the combination of these four processes which are arranged to allow the production of zinc with purity ranging from 99.950% to 99.999%.

The resulting purity will meet current and future European standards. The resulting zinc can therefore be used in various applications. The target applications for the recycled zinc will therefore be related to existing markets such as galvanisation or zinc powders but also to developing markets such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals or renewable energy storage.