RAPID MCPI - Energy Efficient Technology for Metals Separation
Executive Summary
Technical Challenge
- Keeping the rate of ionic liquid consumption low
- Preventing operational losses of the ionic liquid due to decomposition, contamination, and side reactions with impurities
Potential Impact
Separation of aluminum from mixed scrap using ionic liquids will result in major energy saving. The new aluminum separation technology developed in this project will have an energy consumption of 9.5 kwh/kg of Al ($1.10/kg of Al) as compared to the industrial best process is 13.64 kwh/kg of Al ($1.64/kg of Al) which translate to 30.4% energy reduction in US industrial energy intensity. The energy savings of 38.1% and a carbon dioxide reduction of 56.1% are estimated from the commercialization of this project.
Resources
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) provides expertise in electrochemical studies, process modeling and pilot-scale testing. Secat Inc. (SC) provides modular reactor and development and demonstration of modular process intensification, and assists with the design of experiments, materials characterization, process optimization, and lab to pilot scale test transition, and successful development and demonstration of modular process intensification. Schneider Electric Software, LLC (SE) (now AVEVA) specialized in process simulation software for project mathematical modeling, techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). The AVEVA provides modeling activity of the project producing physical/chemical, economic and environmental impact models of the technology.