ICRA News

- The ICREA researcher at ICRA-CERCA will receive funding of two million euros to carry out her research on selective electrochemical separation and metal recovery using tailor-made monolith electrodes

- Globally, the European Research Council has awarded 627 million euros to 308 researchers.

The European Research Council has awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to ICREA researcher Jelena Radjenovic at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA-CERCA) to lead he ELECTROmonoLITH project on the selective electrochemical separation and recovery of lithium and other metals using tailor-made monolith electrodes. The researcher will receive funding of two million euros to carry out the research over a five-year period.

Critical raw materials (CRMs) play a key role in today's energy transition due to their importance in numerous clean energy technologies. The competition for critical raw materials and their concentration within a small number of countries, mainly China, Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, creates a challenging geopolitical environment for Europe.

The ELECTROmonoLITH project seeks to develop a new technology for selective recovery of lithium and other valuable metals (e.g. cobalt, nickel, copper) from industrial wastewater and brines. The technology is based on the electrochemical extraction of metals using specially designed electrodes to selectively separate metals from wastewater. Wastewater from various industries and geothermal brines are potential sources of critical raw materials needed for the  economy decarbonization. For example, in the recycling of Li batteries, the very lithium is discarded in the effluent because there is still no technology capable of extracting it from the highly complex wastewater at low cost.

For Radjenovic, being selected is a source of pride and satisfaction: "I feel privileged to have a third project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The generous funding from the ERC Consolidator Grant will allow us to take risks in the development of new technologies for the recovery of lithium and other critical raw materials from wastewater, and we hope that in a few years we can have tangible results and impact on industry and society".

About Jelena Radjenovic

ICREA researcher at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA-CERCA) in Girona. D. in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Barcelona (2009), she completed her thesis at the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies (IDEA-CSIC). She has worked at the University of Queensland (Australia), Technical University of Berlin (Germany), Plataforma Solar de Almería, and University of California at Berkeley (USA).

Currently, she leads the research group at ICRA dedicated to the development of new water treatment technologies based on electrochemistry and nanotechnology. Her research group has done pioneering work in the development of graphene nanostructured materials for the electrochemical degradation of poly- and perfluorinated compounds (PFAS), pollutants that are persistent to currently applied water treatments. She has obtained several highly competitive grants and projects, among others Marie Curie (2014), Ramon y Cajal (2015), ERC Starting Grant (2016) and ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2023). She has been awarded the National Research Award in Young Talent of Catalonia for 2021.

627 million euros for 308 researchers

From 2,130 applicants, the European Research Council has selected 308 researchers for this year's Consolidator Grants. researchers for this year's Consolidator Grants. The funding will support excellent scientists and academics at a stage in their careers when they are still consolidating their own independent research teams, with the aim of bringing the most promising scientific ideas to fruition. Endowed with a total of €627 million, the grants are part of the EU's Horizon Europe program.

Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth of the European Union, has said, "I extend my warmest congratulations to all the brilliant researchers who have been selected for ERC Consolidator Grants. I am particularly excited to note the significant number of women among the winners for the third consecutive year in this prestigious grant competition. This positive trend not only reflects the outstanding contributions of women researchers, but also highlights the progress we are making toward a more inclusive and diverse scientific community."