Nanomox has developed a cost-effective and sustainable metal oxidation method, Oxidative Ionothermal Synthesis (OIS), to produce advanced inorganic materials. This process uses ionic liquids (green solvents that can be readily recycled) at low temperatures (<120°C) for the direct oxidation of metals, such as zinc. Preliminary techno-economic and sustainability analyses demonstrate that this technique offers enormous improvements over existing technologies as 97% energy reduction is achievable as compared to popular pyrometallurgical methods. The OIS process can treat metal-containing wastes, which opens the door to valorisation of metallic residues produced in steel manufacturing and galvanising industries (EAF dust, slags, dross, etc). Most of these wastes are recovered through energy-intensive pyrometallurgical processes, not in line with NetZero ambitions. Also, a fraction of them ends in landfill, which is increasingly more difficult due to reduction of landfill sites, and represent an economic loss, with potentially negative environmental impacts due to metal leaching into the soil.

Another advantage of the OIS process is that it produces advanced inorganic materials, such as zinc oxide, of superior quality of standard industrial grade, as the particle morphology can be controlled. These inorganic materials are used as raw materials for other foundation and manufacturing industries, such as ceramics, paints, and tyres. Their superior quality not only will improve the sustainability credentials of the end-products but can lead to significant improvement of their performance in existing products and the development of new technologies.

In this project, we will investigate the use of zinc-rich waste streams from the steel industry as an OIS feedstock in a resource recovery approach. This will improve the environmental credentials of the steel industry and profitability by converting metallic wastes into advanced inorganic materials, such as zinc oxide, a chemical used in tyre manufacturing, cosmetics, ceramics and electronics.