Using clay to combat eternal toxins

TU Freiberg clarifies basis for innovative PFAS filter made of clay

06-Dec-2023 - PFAS filters available for industrial waste are usually made of activated carbon (PFAS = perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds). As this is comparatively expensive, researchers are looking for alternative filter materials for the so-called "eternal toxins", whose hazardous residues ...

Team at TU Freiberg develops recycling process for precious metals from electrolysers

07-Aug-2023 - Hydrogen from electrolysis with renewable energies is considered a key element of the energy transition. By means of catalysts, water is split into its components hydrogen and oxygen. The electrochemical reaction requires precious metals such as platinum, iridium or ruthenium as catalysts. How ...

From scrap to raw material: With artificial intelligence to an efficient circular economy

Car2Car project develops technologies for an optimized recycling of end-of-life vehicles

27-Apr-2023 - In the Car2Car project, recyclers and scientists addresses the challenges of closing material loops. The focus lies on increasing the quality of the secondary raw materials from end-of-life vehicles by means of innovative dismantling and automated, accurate detection and processing solutions. The ...

How a bath sponge becomes a bio-based industrial filter

New material can be reused many times over

18-Jun-2021 - Researchers at TU Bergakademie Freiberg developed an innovative material from a cultured marine sponge. When the fibers of the sponge react with a copper-containing ammonia solution, such as that found in the electronics industry, the mineral atacamite is formed. This mineral, which occurs only ...

Little helpers for metal extraction

Using bacteria for electronic waste recycling

05-Oct-2020 - Biohydrometallurgists at TU Bergakademie Freiberg have demonstrated for the first time that leaching with the help of bacteria can also be used to separate components when recycling electronic waste. The team around Professor Michael Schlömann has now published their research results in the ...

When crystals throw sparks

Voltage can be used for chemical reactions: New model for pyroelectric reactions developed

14-Sep-2020 - Pyroelectricity is a phenomenon in physics in which heat can be converted into electricity via certain crystals or into a voltage that can be used for chemical reactions. While the first application is already used in devices such as motion detectors today, the second application, although ...

Climate-friendly gasoline

23-Dec-2019 - In the C3 Mobility project, TU Freiberg, together with Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz and other partners from the automotive and mineral oil industries, is researching new ways of achieving CO2-neutral mobility. The STF gasoline synthesis plant at TU Freiberg produced the first 16,000 litres of green ...

Unique material from marine bath sponge skeleton

Novel carbon sponge could serve as a centimetre-thin catalyst for industry in the future

09-Oct-2019 - Scientists of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, together with an international research team, have deciphered the structure of a marine sponge skeleton and developed a novel three-dimensional composite material for the modern materials industry. The so-called "graphite" has unique structural, ...

New process for natural-based microparticles in cosmetics

Research against microplastics

26-Sep-2019 - Microplastics is spreading more and more, especially in the sea. The impact of microplastics on animals and humans has not been researched in the long term. In the next years, the Chair of Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg wants to develop together with scientists ...

‘Bio-fishing’ for rare earths

How protein fragments can be used for the recycling of electronics waste

17-Oct-2018 - Without important key elements such as copper or rare earth metals, the electronics industry would grind to a halt and electricity would cease to flow. End-of-life products like discarded energy-saving lamps, mobile phones and computers could provide an important secondary source for these ...