Spark Award 2024: procedure for recycling rare earth metals receives award

Rare earth elements are an indispensable part of modern electronics. They can be found, for example, in fluorescent lamps, flat screen monitors and the magnets of hard drives. Moreover, these elements are also essential for the energy transition. For instance, they are used for the manufacture of generators for wind farms.

These elements have until now barely been recycled because they can only be separated with an enormous outlay of energy and chemicals. The problem lies in the chemical similarity of the elements. ETH doctoral student Marie Perrin and her supervisor Victor Mougel have developed a method that enables the elements to be separated efficiently. It has been singled out for the Spark Award 2024 as the most promising invention of the year.

Reducing dependence on suppliers

The jury expressed its conviction in its appraisal that this method would pave the way for the more efficient recycling of rare earth elements. The transition from the laboratory to the market was promising and so therefore also was the impact of the invention. “If our electronic waste becomes a resource and no longer ends up at landfills, our dependence on external procurement sources will decrease,” explained jury member Olivier Enger, Senior Innovation Manager at BASF.

“This award is a great honour for me,” said Marie Perrin. She pointed out that the finalist projects were all brilliant but also very different and that they highlighted the diversity of ETH. The fact that her technology had won first prize undoubtedly also reflected the growing awareness of the handling of resources.

In order to market the technology, the researchers already founded a start-up called Reecover 18 months ago. The name is derived from “Rare elements recovery”. “Having completed my doctoral studies one week ago, I can now concentrate entirely on developing the start-up,” says a delighted Marie Perrin.

Spark Award for the first time presented at ETH Industry Day

The presentation of the Spark Award marked the culmination of ETH Industry Day that this year took place at Zurich Convention Center as part of Open-i. ETH Zurich was the official partner of the successor event to the NZZ Connect Swiss Innovation Forum.

Open-i offered a programme with around 80 talks and 90 exhibition stands and welcomed over 1,000 participants. “This year’s Industry Day was a complete success for us,” says Jeannine Pilloud, responsible for this event as Head of ETH Zurich’s Partnership for Innovation. The researchers and representatives of the spin-off companies on stage and at the exhibition stands also expressed satisfaction with the new venue.