Circular Materials has developed a sustainable technology to efficiently remove and recover the heavy metals present in industrial wastewaters, ideal for the surface treatment industry (in particular to recover polluting and toxic metals like chromium).

The state-of-the-art technologies generate toxic sludges that are confined to special landfills, with intrinsic risk of release of metals in the environment and groundwaters. Circular Material’s process operates in a completely different way. By continuously mixing in a reactor a flow of wastewater with a flow of supercritical water, the metals precipitate as a solid powder that is easily removed from the aqueous phase. This approach avoids the production of sludges (no product to dispose of), revolutionising the treatment sector and solving environmental issues. This process doesn’t need any chemicals, and it drastically lowers the operating costs. Moreover, the recovered high-purity metals can be reused in the same application (perfect circular approach).