What makes this transition so challenging?
Van Roey: “The circular economy requires new technology to isolate low concentrations of metals. In doing so, we come up against not only technological limits but also regulatory constraints relating to REACH and waste legislation. For example, it is difficult for recyclers to carry out cross-border shipments within and outside Europe.”
Eggermont: “REACH is the legislation governing the placing of chemical substances on the market. However, when it comes to substances derived from recycling, waste legislation also applies. The combination of these two stringent sets of legislation sometimes continues to hinder the transition to a truly circular economy.”
How can a company nevertheless implement this circular approach in practice?
Van Roey: “At Molymet Belgium, circularity is not a separate project, but an integral part of our entire business operations. We approach every step in the production process by asking: how can we maximise the reuse of materials?”
Van Roey: “The circular approach begins with the choice of our raw materials. We use only by-products from copper mines as the basis for molybdenum production. This means that materials which would otherwise end up as waste streams are now given a new, high-value application. In the FeMo department, too, we use only by-products from other metal industries in and around Europe: scrap serves as a source of iron, and residues from other metal processing sectors, such as the aluminium and ferrosilicon industries, are used as reducing agents.”
What happens during the production process itself?
Eggermont: “We are also strongly committed to reuse within our production process. Sulphur released during roasting is converted into sulphuric acid, a useful industrial product. Impurities yield additional raw materials, such as selenium. Even the slag is given a second life. After an additional purification step, it is reused in road construction as an alternative to natural sand and gravel, thereby reducing the pressure on natural resources.”
Does it stop there, or does the circular approach extend right through to the end use?
Van Roey: “The circular logic doesn’t stop at the factory gate. Molybdenum is mainly used in steel and stainless steel, materials that are among the most recycled in the world. They can be reused almost indefinitely without any loss of quality. As a result, molybdenum also continues to circulate in a closed loop, even during and after the use phase.”
What does the future of the circular economy look like?
Eggermont: “With Molymet Belgium, we are demonstrating that the circular economy is not an end point, but an ongoing process. We are currently working on a project to separate copper impurities even further from molybdenum in the raw materials, so that this copper can also be reused in other applications. In addition, we are conducting research into recovering even more metals from waste water, so that in future we can reuse even the smallest residual fractions.”
