General information

Objective RECOPP aims to transition the environmentally and economically sustainable recovery of added-value raw materials Bismuth (Bi) and Antimony (Sb) and removal and inertisation of Arsenic (As) from the residues and by-products generated during the pyrometallurgical production of Copper (Cu), based on RECOPP fast track proven technologies (TRL 5), to a TRL of 7(pilot scale) to validate this technological solution at such operational environment. The solution (technology) RECOPP is a technology demonstration project at technology readiness level (TRL) of 7 based on innovative resources recovery technology solutions for the Cu metallurgical industries residues. Non-ferrous metallurgical plants, key elements of our society, are large facilities managing large volumes of raw materials (as Sb and Bi in the form of wastes) and facing two main problems: i) the generation of large quantities of wastes as the processed metal is only a small fraction of the raw material; ii) the presence of toxic elements such as As, generating, as a result, large volumes of toxic waste to be gathered and managed. Reduction of the levels of such toxic elements to avoid its dispersion on the different environmental compartments has been identified in last decades as the main target. RECOPP project will validate a new technological solution integrating the removal of As in a stable and safe mineral phase form, and at the same time, the main contribution of this proposal, the recovery process of added-value raw materials, Bi and Sb, from different waste process streams generated in Cu metallurgical plants, using as case study, those generated at the Atlantic Copper metallurgical facility in Huelva. As result of the project, in addition to the improvement of the waste cycle management on the non-ferrous metallurgical industry, it will be promoted the circular economy approach that allows the recovery added-value secondary resources to be easily market.