DESignSX
Project Description
Sustainable metallurgy stands uniquely poised to reduce the environmental impact of existing processes whilst recovering the metal value in end-of-life devices, thereby closing the resource loop. Despite their growing demand and geopolitical criticality, lanthanide separation remains technologically challenging due to the small monotonic variation in their properties, negatively affecting the economics of their recycling. In this context, the ERC-funded DESignSX project will use non-ionic hydrophobic eutectic solvents (DES) for lanthanide separation through solvent extraction (SX).
The project endeavors to enhance lanthanide separation by augmenting steric factors that dictate the interactions between lanthanide ions and ligands, achieved by incorporating complexing agents as constituents of DES. Given that the separation of adjacent lanthanide cations occurs over dozens of counter-current extraction stages, even seemingly small increases in the separation factors yield measurable environmental and economic gains. DESignSX relies on a tandem experimental-computational approach spanning multiple time and size scales, from a molecular description of pair-wise interactions to laboratory-scale process optimisation. DESignSX aims to overcome the traditional SX issues of complex flowsheets, third-phase formation, toxicity of the organic diluent through the inclusion of bio-derived components, and entrainment losses, whilst improving the selectivity of the separation. DESignSX outcomes are expected to be transferable to other critical SX separations.
Project within CICECO
Latest News
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15/06/2026 - Our latest publication in ChemSusChem is the result of an international collaboration between the University of Porto (Portugal) and La Sapienza University (Italy), without their multidisciplinary input it would not be possible. A special thanks to Dr Inês Vaz for all her effort. For the first time, the biphasic transfer of lanthanide nitrate by trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) diluted in a molecular diluent or as a component of a hydrophobic eutectic solvent (HES) was studied by two-phase isothermal titration calorimetry and complemented by XAS, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopy. In HES, the solvent intermolecular interactions introduce an enthalpic penalty, which is overcompensated by a reduction of the entropic cost of Eu(III) phase transfer, resulting in enhanced metal partitioning.
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21/04/2026 - Congratulations to Dr Nobahar for our latest publication in collaboration with the PlatILPlus project. Bio-based polysaccharides, proteins, and other biomacromolecules, offer a promising alternative to conventional adsorbents- This review explores strategies to engineer these materials and enhance their metal interaction capabilities.
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08-09/04/2026 - Participation in the 1st Walden Panel on Ionic Liquid in Riga (Latvia), an extremely stimulating event addressing the potential and challenges facing the future of ionic liquids. Many thanks to Dr Eduards Bakis and Dr Frederik Philippi for the initiative to organise this fantastic event and the hospitality!
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01/04/2026 - Welcome to Mayu Kamisono, a visiting PhD student from Kyushu University (Japan), staying with us four month to investigate the use of deep eutectic solvent for the selective recovery of platinum group metals from spent automotive catalyst.
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31/01-31/03/2026 - As part of the FCT PRR Mobility scheme, Nicolas Schaeffer spent two months as a visiting scholar at the University of Tokushima (Japan) with Professor Takafumi Hanada, investigating the role of water on the selectivity and extraction performance of lanthanides by deep eutectic solvents. Thank you very much for the hospitality and the amazing experience!
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15/11/2025 - Welcome to Michele D'Amico, the newest PhD student, who will study by molecular dynamics the solvation of metal ions in DES and its relevance to solvent extraction. Good luck!
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01/11/2025 - Welcome to Bruna Ferreira, a joint PhD student with Professor Pedro Carvalho of CICECO, who will investigate the inclusion HES within membrane reactor designs relevant to their application. All the best to Bruna!
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13-15/10/2025 - Nicolas Schaeffer presented on solvent design for lanthanide separation at East China University of Science and Technology (China) as part of the creation of joint research center between CICECO and ECUST. More information on this initiative can be found here.
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09/10/2025 - The DESignSX team presented their recent works at Jornadas de CICECO 25 in Ílhavo (PT), a great day of discussion!