Plant Transforms Waste Streams into Economical and Eco-friendly Sources of Scandium for New Aluminum Scandium Alloys, Additive Manufacturing, and Green Energy
PITTSBURGH, May 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – II‐VI Incorporated (Nasdaq:IIVI), a leader in engineered materials, today announced that it shipped the first scandium recovery modular pilot plant to be installed in Greece under a program of the Scandium Aluminum Europe alliance, or SCALE, a European Union funded Horizon 2020 initiative to develop efficient exploitation of scandium-containing resources.
Scandium is a rare-earth element increasingly demanded for applications that reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality, and strengthen energy security. II-VI’s patent-pending selective ion recovery (SIR) process enables the transformation of industrial waste streams into economical sources of scandium at 50% of the cost of conventional extractive metallurgy techniques and provides environmental benefits.
“This shipment is a very important milestone on the path to large-scale commercialization of our SIR process,” said Leigh Dahl, General Manager, II-VI Performance Metals Division. “With each milestone, we are strengthening our partnerships in multiple industries striving to serve the growing demand for scandium in aerospace applications for lightweight high-strength structures, additive manufacturing, and green energy.”
Scandium enables ultrahigh-strength and lightweight parts produced by additive manufacturing that improve fuel efficiency in transportation vehicles. Scandium is also consumed in low-emission solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that operate off the electric grid.
II-VI has successfully demonstrated its SIR process in aluminum and titanium waste streams. II-VI’s SIR process is available for licensing.