Development of an ultrasonic reactor for recovering valuable metals from waste materials from the steel and metal processing industry

Global consumption and the increasing scarcity of raw materials require the conservation of resources and the efficient use of raw materials. For example, strategically important raw materials such as titanium, cobalt, tungsten and nickel are used in the hard metal industry and it makes economic sense to recover them from production residues or scrap. In hydrometallurgical recovery processes, metals are dissolved in a reactor using a solvent. There is a need for efficient reactor technology for the efficient and economical processing and recovery of valuable materials through chemical leaching. The aim of the new reactor development is chemical leaching accelerated by ultrasound. The dissolution rate of the scrap parts is increased by ultrasound-induced cavitation. In this research project, numerical calculations will be used to characterize the ultrasonic field in the reactor and to quantify the influence of structural variations in the reactor geometry on the sound field. The economic and technical relevance of the planned work also lies in the quantification of the dissolution reaction through laboratory and pilot plant tests, which will be carried out by the project partner, the VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut in Düsseldorf.