The BEST4Hy project has successfully demonstrated a range of low-environmental impact technologies to recover valuable materials from end-of-life (EoL) hydrogen technologies, such as PEMFC and SOFC. These technologies contain critical materials like platinum, nickel, cobalt, and advanced ceramics and polymers, important for the EU economy. The project focused on developing sustainable EoL management strategies to minimize environmental impact and maximize material recovery.
Key achievements include:
- High recovery rates (up to 95% for platinum from PEMFC) and reduced environmental impact compared to new material production.
- Methods for synthesising new catalysts and manufacturing fuel cells using up to 100% recovered materials.
- Successful production of new SOFC cells using 30% recycled materials.
- Enhanced understanding of the life cycle impacts of fuel cells and development of new environmental models.
- Proposals for market introduction, regulatory reviews, standardisation, and potential EU eco-labelling.
The project also prepared three patent applications and three high-ranking publications. Future work involves scaling up of recovery processes and expanding to other valuable materials. Continued support from the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is essential for the sustainability of the hydrogen value chain.
Project webpage: https://best4hy-project.eu/