REEgain

• Project number: Interreg ATCZ172
• Project Management: Dominik Schild, IMC FH Krems / Department of Life Sciences
• Project partners: Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences / Department of Water Quality and Health, Mikrobiologický ústav AVČR, Zentrum ALGATECH, Danube University Krems / Centre for Biomedical Technology, Saubermacher Dienstleistungs AG, Stark GmbH, Městská Vodohospodářská s.r.o.
• Project duration: 48 months from 1 July 2018

Background

Rare earths are used in electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers or energy-saving light bulbs. However, their availability is limited and there are no environmentally friendly recycling methods. The complex and expensive extraction as well as the scarce supply of these raw materials on the world market cause the prices for rare earths to rise continuously. Due to constant technological progress, it is already foreseeable today that the supply situation for rare earths will prove to be critical and the development of future technologies may be endangered as a result.

The project partners want to counteract this development with a new technology. A variant that has never been used before is to be employed: recycling through microorganisms (bacteria and algae). The goal of the international consortium of project partners is to develop, together with regional industry, an applicable recycling technology that can recover rare earths from electronic waste and subsequently make this technology usable for the economy. The consortium is in constant exchange with the strategic partners, which ensures that the market demand and the technological possibilities of the economy are taken into account in the development.