Development of an ultrasound reactor for recovery process of scrap from steel and metal industry

The worldwide consumption and increasing shortage of raw materials require an efficient utilization of the resources. For instance, the strategic raw materials like titan, cobalt, wolfram and nickel, which are important for the carbide industry, can be economically recycled from scrap. During a hydrometallurgical recovery process, solvents dissolve the metals in a chemical reactor, which is also known as “chemical leeching”. To achieve an economic recovery process an efficient reactor technology is needed. The goal of the project is the deployment of ultrasound to accelerate the chemical leeching. The dissolution rate of scrap parts is increased through the cavitation caused by ultrasound. The research proposal includes numerical investigation on ultrasound field in the reactor and its geometrical optimization. The project is carried out in cooperation with VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut from Düsseldorf, which is responsible for experiments.