SIM² Welcome

SIM² KU Leuven (Sustainable Inorganic Materials Management) is an interdisciplinary research cluster at KU Leuven, which addresses the European and global demand for more cleantech innovation and research on resource recovery and recycling.

Open position for Industrial Research Fund Manager (MRC)

Leuven MRC is looking for a new Industrial Research Fund (IRF/IOF) Research Manager in the field of Materials Innovation for a Circular Economy. The deadline for applications for this high-profile position is January 24, 2019.

Extraction of rare earths from bauxite residue

In the context of the EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN REDMUD project, KU Leuven researchers have published a new method to extract rare earths (REEs) from bauxite residue (red mud) by dry digestion followed by water leaching.

New paper on direct recycling of NdFeB alloys

The colleagues from TU Darmstadt and Fraunhofer IWKS in Germany present material-to-material (direct) recycling approaches for NdFeB magnet alloys. The paper is published in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy.

New PhD on REE recovery from bauxite residue

On July 2nd, 2018, Dženita Avdibegović (SIM² KU Leuven) obtained her PhD degree in Chemistry. She successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘Recovery of rare earths from bauxite residue leachates by functionalised sorbents‘.

Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Liubov Lukina

Liubov Lukina is a PhD student at the Department of Materials Engineering at KU Leuven. She is working on the magnetic separation of rare-earth ions. She has a MSc degree from Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland).

Science for Society: interview with Binnemans and Jones

In the Science@leuven Journal (Issue 62, p. 14-17) Siska Waelkens interviewed Prof. Koen Binnemans and Dr. Peter Tom Jones about their work in the field of sustainable metallurgy and their wider research valorisation strategy.

News

Reclaiming the treasure hidden in old CRT monitors and TVs

January 17th, 2019|0 Comments

Within the EU H2020 REMAGHIC project, a process was developed by KU Leuven & TECNALIA to recover rare earths from CRT phosphor waste based on roasting and leaching with the green solvents acetic acid and methanesulphonic acid.

Open position for Industrial Research Fund Manager (MRC)

January 7th, 2019|0 Comments

Meet our SIM² KU Leuven researcher: Dr. Arne Peys

January 5th, 2019|0 Comments

Dr. Arne Peys is a postdoc in the SREMat Group (Dept. Materials Engineering, KU Leuven) aiming to valorise industrial residues in novel processes or materials . Find out more about Arne Peys and his work in the interview below.

Meet our SIM² KU Leuven colleague: Katarzyna Janusz

January 2nd, 2019|0 Comments

Katarzyna Janusz is a project manager at the Materials Engineering Department. She coordinates the EIT Labelled Master Programme on Sustainable Materials (SUMA), which is SIM² KU Leuven’s future-oriented education flagship.

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Research Results

Are Chinese policies disrupting the REE supply chain?

December 18th, 2018|0 Comments

New work by SIM² KU Leuven researchers published in Resources Conservation and Recycling demonstrates that the government policies have a much larger influence on the rare-earth supply chain disruption than physical disruptions.

New process to recover indium from iron-rich solutions

December 12th, 2018|0 Comments

SIM² KU Leuven researchers developed a new, selective method to recover indium from iron-rich solutions. This work, funded through EU METGROW+, was published as a golden open access paper in Separation and Purification Technology.

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