Launch of the InnovTech project: innovative and sustainable technologies

Demand for mineral resources is increasing considerably, in quantity and diversity, due to the growing complexity of objects used in the context of energy and digital transitions.

These resources, mostly extracted from the subsurface, undergo several processing stages to extract and purify them. These stages are all the more complex as resources are increasingly polymetallic and finely mineralized.

In this context, the InnovTech project, coordinated by Kathy Bru (BRGM) and Yann Foucaud (University of Lorraine), aims to:

1. Address the main scientific challenges related to sustainable processing of mineral resources through development of innovative interdisciplinary scientific approaches;
2. Unite scientific communities working on these issues.

7 partners mobilized for 6 years for the study and development of innovative methods and processes

Researchers will notably work on development of:

• State-of-the-art automated, in situ and real-time characterization methods;
• Innovative processes in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy through approaches combining mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of processes from atomic and molecular scale to macroscopic scale; conducting original experimental work and using artificial intelligence;
• An original approach coupling process simulation software and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to improve technical, economic and environmental performance of processes from preliminary studies.

The launch day was an opportunity for researcher project members, and actors interested in these issues, to exchange on work to be launched and to visit the Plat'Inn platform, pilot hall for raw material processing where part of the research will be conducted.

Lasting 6 years, the InnovTech project brings together 7 partners: BRGM, University of Lorraine, CNRS, Toulouse INP, MINES ParisTech PSL, University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour and CEA.