Researchers at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland School of Life Sciences have developed a process to recover the light metal scandium from acidic industrial wastewater by means of filtration. The promising laboratory method was tested for its industrial suitability in a pilot trial at the GETEC PARK.SWISS AG chemical park.
The element scandium has been classified as a critical raw material by the EU due to its economic importance and concurrent supply risk. Nevertheless, it usually ends up in landfills – for example in waste from white pigment production. The EU-funded research project SCALE aims to recover valuable scandium and establish new European supply chains. The University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland School of Life Sciences and its partner GETEC PARK.SWISS AG are playing a decisive role in the project. In pilot tests in an industrial building of the chemical park, HLS researchers are testing how scandium can be extracted from strongly acidic process wastewater by means of filtration. The promising laboratory tests should thus prove their suitability for practical application on a larger scale and advance the technological maturity of the new process. Among other things, this will help aerospace and high-tech industry in Europe and make it less dependent on imports.
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Scandium is a chemical element with symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery-white metallic d-block element, it was discovered in 1879 by spectral analysis of the minerals euxenite and gadolinite from Scandinavia.
