Description of the Project

Rare earth elements (SE) are essential for the production of high-performance electronics (cell phones etc.) and magnets in wind turbines or electric motors. Sustainable energy conversion, the expansion of electromobility and a supply of electric motors are core issues of the energy transition. Rare earth elements (SE, e.g. La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Lu) are important raw materials in high technology, essential for numerous companies in Bavaria's high-tech location, such as chemical companies, metalworking industry and special technology companies. In Bavaria, these SE are supplied exclusively by purchasing in China, which is the world's largest supplier of these metals. The MiKa project aims to support the supply of raw materials with SE in Bavaria and to extract SE from existing raw material sources. To date, there has been no activity whatsoever to extract SE from locally available sources in Bavaria. MiKa is working on a re-cycling process for the extraction of SE elements from solid waste streams by combining inorganic chemical and biotechnological processes. Application-oriented basic research at the TUM and direct cooperation with industry and industrial service providers are aimed at the rapid implementation of the processes to be developed in practice.

Persons: Prof. Dr. Thomas Brück (Responsible) and Michael Paper