Project: Circular product design applied to the recovery of critical raw elements from electrolyzers and fuel cells at their end of life

Acronym	CLEARNESS (Reference Number: 85)
Duration	01/04/2024 - 01/12/2026
Project Topic	The main goal of the CLEARNESS project is to develop an approach of circular product design of novel multifunctional composite materials based on metals, noble metals and rare earth metals recovered from end-of-life high temperature electrochemical cells. High temperature electrolysers and fuel cells are considered as an integral part of the future hydrogen economy. At the present state-of-art, a fuel cell/electrolysis stack is supposed to reach 40,000 h of operation time. After this, the stack is supposed to be exchanged with a new one. This project addresses the issues of optimizing the circular manufacturing process of fuel/electrolysis cell stacks by recycling used electrodes and active elements. The concept will demonstrate its potential to promote the sustainable and responsible sourcing, processing, production, consumption, and recycling of primary and secondary minerals and metals by incorporating appropriate sustainability and nontechnology factors such as environmental, social, health, and circular economy concerns.
Network	ERA-MIN3
Call	ERA-MIN3 Joint Call 2023

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Warsaw University of Technology	Coordinator	Poland
2	Fuel Cell Poland Ltd.	Partner	Poland
3	Eskisehir Technical University	Partner	turkey
4	University of Aveiro	Partner	Portugal