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The Biological Treatment of Gaseous Pollutants and Odours Group (BIOGAP) at UPC is participating in the BIOMETCRI project, which aims to implement an innovative biotechnological process to recycle batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles, recovering valuable metals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and manganese.
The technology has already been successfully tested for the recovery of copper from other electronic waste, and the project now seeks to develop its application for recovering the valuable metals that make up batteries.
BIOMETCRI is based on a bioleaching process developed by BIOGAP, which harnesses the metabolic activity of microorganisms to generate leaching agents that extract metals from batteries in a cyclical and continuous manner. This system operates at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, avoiding the costs and environmental impact associated with traditional pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes.
The project includes key stages such as the study of battery dismantling, the biological production of extraction agents, and the technical and economic analysis of process scalability.
BIOMETCRI aligns with the European Union’s circular economy and sustainability policies, contributing to the reduction of chemical waste and emissions, as well as decreasing dependence on external resources. This initiative also improves economic efficiency, as it helps reduce operational costs compared to existing conventional techniques.
Funded under the 2024 Competitiveness Reinforcement Initiatives (IRC 2024) by ACCIÓ, the project has a total budget of €99,991.74. The consortium driving the initiative is made up of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), SEAT, Pratgir, and the MAV Cluster, which coordinates the project. Together, they aim to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of the process within one year (December 2024–December 2025).
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