Issue 6, 2025

Design for recycle of devices to ensure efficient recovery of technology critical metals

Abstract

Many of the issues associated with recycling devices containing small but significant amounts of technology critical metals, arise from the choice of materials and, most importantly, the joining methods for different materials. In many cases, recycling could be simplified and made more efficient by employing design for recycle principles which consider the requirements for separation. This study highlights recent innovative recycling tools which can impart greater selectivity during material separation and shows how often small changes in device architecture can greatly simplify critical metal recovery and promote circularity. It also discusses how design can be used to enable these tools to be assembled into the recycling flowsheet, to decrease energy and chemical input and maximise the recovery of technology critical metals. It also promotes how digital product passports could be used in combination with AI to develop algorithms to develop smart recycling flowsheets.

Graphical abstract: Design for recycle of devices to ensure efficient recovery of technology critical metals

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
24 Feb 2025
Accepted
25 Apr 2025
First published
25 Apr 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Sustainability, 2025,3, 2455-2471

Design for recycle of devices to ensure efficient recovery of technology critical metals

M. E. Keal, S. Scott, B. N. N. Alsulami, J. Kettle, A. Feeney, J. S. Edge, P. A. Anderson, G. D. J. Harper, A. Walton, G. Zante and A. P. Abbott, RSC Sustainability, 2025, 3, 2455 DOI: 10.1039/D5SU00128E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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