M12 Steering Committee Liege, 18th September 2018.

The project has achieved its first year. The WP2 has been finished and closed with the production of the specifications of the electrowinning cell pre-engineering. WP4 has been launched with the adjustment of the specifications and finalization of the equipment lists. 

The first milestone of the project linked to the electrowinning cell design has been validated with the delivery of D2.2 Electrowinning cell pre-engineering specifications. 

The main goals of this meeting were:

• WP2: Flow sheets including the main components of the pilot have been defined, and a first list of all the required equipment has been finalized; The know-how about ULCOWIN and new tests have been performed to select the construction and cathode materials; Mass and energy balances of the pilot have been developed in LabVIEW, that will be updated in WP4; Failure analysis (FMECA) has been performed; A first list of equipment and auxiliaries has been completed; The integration of the process in the electrical grid has been analysed; Engineering decisions for further industrial ULCOWIN plants have been defined.

• WP3: Development of CFD methodology is almost completed; Numerical models have been used to define several parameters, such as the optimal cell angle to remove bubbles; Gas collector device is under investigations; A first design of the inlet distributor has been defined.

• WP4: Outputs from WP2 will need to be reconsidered and reworked to have the final specifications of the pilot.

• WP6: Activities keep progressing through Tasks 6.1, 6.2 and 6.5. Preliminary electrolysis tests in lab have started; Ceramic materials are being prepared by mixing aluminium and iron oxides to test additional raw materials; The nickel electrowinning waste material is being studied.

• WP7: The basis for the techno-economic and environmental assessment is making good progress; The process integration with renewable energy sources is being studied and different personalized scenarios are now being created to make the model and parametric assessment; Analysis framework for the techno-economical study has been defined.

• WP8: Dissemination and communication of the SIDERWIN project has continued is good progress during this period, with more than 500 visits; SIDERWIN flyer is available through the website and paper copies have been distributed between the partners; Nine persons have registered for the Special Interest Group (SIG); Potential results from the partners have been collected and three Key Exploitable Results have been highlighted. 

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Participants attending M12 Steering Committee held at CMI premises.