Reducing dependence on platinum group metals, lowering environmental impact and promoting more sustainable resource management are the core objectives of the European project CHemPGM, which involves Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA).
The project focuses on developing safe and environmentally friendly strategies for the use and recovery of platinum, palladium and rhodium, metals classified by the European Commission as “critical raw materials” due to supply risks and growing demand. Research activities centre on sustainable and efficient methods to recover these metals from secondary sources, such as spent catalytic converters, and reuse them in high value-added applications.
Within the project, ENEA is working on the development of new catalysts made from recycled materials. According to project coordinator Maria Luisa Grilli, these catalysts are obtained through selective dissolution processes applied to catalytic converters and could eventually be used in electrochemical devices such as fuel cells and electrolysers. Platinum group metals play a key role in numerous chemical processes, including carbon capture and the conversion of CO₂ into renewable fuels.