As part of its commitment to collaboration across the European research landscape, the HEPHAESTUS project prepared a joint publication with other EU project coordinators and key players in the fields of circular economy, critical raw materials (CRM), and resource optimisation. For this initiative, HEPHAESTUS has partnered with the Horizon Europe project CICERO, which focuses on advancing sustainable hydrometallurgical processing routes for battery materials.
CICERO (MSA-based Circular Hydrometallurgy for Sustainable and Cost-Effective Production of NMC Cathode Materials) aims to establish a new European processing paradigm for nickel, cobalt, and manganese, three metals that are essential for lithium-ion battery production. At present, Europe depends heavily on a small number of third countries for refined Ni, Co, and Mn salts, while their extraction and processing often come with significant environmental and social costs.
To address this challenge, CICERO develops a sustainable and cost-effective refining model that enables the production of “made-in-Europe” nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC) cathode materials. The project integrates the Twelve Principles of Circular Hydrometallurgy with the innovative use of methanesulphonic acid (MSA) as a processing reagent.
MSA offers several advantages compared to conventional sulphuric acid used in hydrometallurgy. The solubility of nickel, cobalt, and manganese methanesulphonate salts in water is significantly higher than that of their sulphate equivalents, enabling more efficient processing routes and improved resource utilisation. In addition, MSA is a commercially available, green, REACH-compliant acid that occurs naturally within the geochemical sulphur cycle, making it a promising candidate for future circular hydrometallurgical flowsheets. Within CICERO, this approach is tested for the refining of nickel-, cobalt-, and manganese-bearing materials from both post-mining wastes and industrial intermediates, including nickel laterites and manganese-rich residues from the zinc industry.
The collaboration between HEPHAESTUS and CICERO highlights important scientific and strategic connections between the two projects. Both initiatives address the challenge of securing sustainable and resilient supplies of critical raw materials for Europe’s energy transition, particularly nickel and cobalt, which are indispensable for electric mobility and renewable energy storage.
Demand for these metals is projected to increase significantly in the coming decades, with forecasts suggesting that nickel demand for batteries could quadruple by 2050. In response, the European Critical Raw Materials Act calls for strengthening domestic mining, processing, and recycling capacities within Europe.
Greece plays a particularly strategic role in this context. It is the only EU country with significant lateritic nickel deposits, historically processed through pyrometallurgical routes. One example is LARCO, a Greek mining and metallurgical company and partner of the HEPHAESTUS project. Within both HEPHAESTUS and CICERO, Dr. Stylianos Tampouris from LARCO contributes his expertise on nickel laterites and their processing, creating a valuable link between the two Horizon Europe initiatives and supporting knowledge exchange across projects.
However, decades of mining have led to declining ore grades, making traditional extraction routes increasingly challenging. Hydrometallurgical technologies such as high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) and heap leaching now offer more efficient and sustainable alternatives. These methods enable the extraction of nickel from lower-grade ores while simultaneously recovering cobalt, both metals being essential for battery production.
If developed further, Greek laterites could supply around 17,000 tons of nickel and 1,500 tons of cobalt annually, potentially meeting about 10% of Europe’s demand for battery materials. Moreover, within the HEPHAESTUS project, LARCO’s nickel-bearing dust collected in the gas-cleaning systems of rotary kilns is being explored as a valuable secondary feed for Cleantech’s furnace, enabling additional nickel recovery. This combination of primary and secondary resources directly supports the EU’s goals for a more resilient and circular raw materials supply chain, reducing dependence on imports from outside the Union.
Read the full article by Dr. Stylianos Tampouris from HEPHAESTUS and CICERO partner organisation, LARCO: click here.
To know more about CICERO project, go to the website.