Public Funding for Minviro Ltd

The Hy-PACT initiative will be in strategic collaboration among key stakeholders in the UK and Australia to develop the prototype for the innovative "Digital Material Passport"(DMP) in the hydrogen supply chain. DMP will provide a full lifecycle record of hydrogen from production through to its end use, including the cost, critical Circularity Index and accurate Scope 3 carbon footprint measurement and monitoring. As UK and Australian governments line up big bets to develop low carbon hydrogen, there is a need to facilitate the assessment of hydrogen production pathways and supply chain, particularly from the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions, leaks, life cycle assessment and certification. Lacking technology to monitor this data and certify hydrogen production pathways means there is a data gap. More research is needed to calculate its net impact on global warming. Hy-PACT initiative will solve them by leveraging cutting-edge technologies our team are focusing and aim to deliver in the next 21 months. To achieve the 'Destination Zero' in the hydrogen supply chain, the existing MCG's platform VUILA (reference: https://cic.ubc.ca/project/vaccine-distribution-supply-chain-prototype/), we will integrate advanced carbon visibility analytics and machine learning (ML) tools in the form of DMP, which will be used to track and monitor carbon emissions throughout the hydrogen supply chain. The trusted data layer built up by MCG will retain the data stored on the blockchain ledger and shared across supply chain stakeholders with integrity and real-time visibility. Hy-PACT will also offer the opportunity to develop 2 case studies: one project with a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser powered by renewable energy, and one demonstration of a solid oxide electrolyser (SOE) made of revolutionary tubular SOE cells(reference: https://www.edf-re.uk/news-and-views/ground-breaking-tees-green-hydrogen-project-secures-major-government-funding/). Hy-PACT team will closely engage with the funding scheme and explore the potential for the DMP to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Hy-PACT will potentially integrate existing solutions for carbon credit tokenization and establish a global open innovation network for sustainable development goals(SDGs) between Australia and the UK.

The project GR4FITE3 aims to reach Graphite Resilience For lithium-Ion baTtery anodes through a sustainable European End-to-End supply chain. Thissupply chain includes environmentally responsible European mining of natural crystalline flake graphite from Europe’s largest natural graphite resource, highly innovative, continuous and low energy input upgrading of the mined ore, adding recycled and fully repaired for reuse synthetic graphite and optionally silicon nanoparticles to compose a unique anode active material’s particle architecture, making the high density anodes, creating the cells, developing battery modules, certifying the lithium-ion batteries for safety and viability, and ultimately using these products by the OEMs including an established European electric bus manufacturer and a utility grid developer, among others. The purpose of GR4FITE3 project is to demonstrate the creation of a sustainable supply chain for the European industrial graphite and carbon products for specific use as anode active materials in Lithium-Ion batteries designed for applications in electric vehicles and power sources for utilities, such as solar and wind farms. This project is going to combine the efforts of 10 partner organizations from six European nations, employing both industry and academia. There are also four OEMs and five supporting organizations who have expressed their interest in tracking project’s progress and part-taking in a tangible manner in commercialization efforts associated with GR4FITE3 projects’ outcomes. With this larger group of stakeholders, the project spreads its reach to as many as ten countries and three continents, ensuring its global outreach from the very start.

Rare-earth metals are irreplaceable in highly demanded products such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, mobile phones, computers and the defence industry. Therefore, we need to research how to sustainably mine and process these metals. Minviro together with BEC GmbH, Circularise, Grundfos, and the global Rare Earth Industry Association (REIA) started a research project in February 2022, funded by EIT Raw Materials. The research aims to develop a blockchain-based traceability circular system to improve transparency and sustainability of supply chains involving critical and rare earth materials. Rare earth elements (REE) are essential for the transition towards a circular economy and a critical component of many green technology solutions such as energy-efficient lights, wind turbines, hybrid and fully electric vehicles. While these metals are critical to drive sustainability targets forward, there is no certification or standard for socio-environmental reporting to assess sustainability across the REE value chain. REE resource availability is not unlimited and its extraction and processing also comes with an environmental footprint. Therefore there is a clear necessity to establish industry-wide sustainability criteria and schemes to actually certify sustainability accordingly. To reach this goal, the transparency and traceability of the REE value chains needs to be given. The Circular System for Assessing Rare Earth Sustainability (CSyARES) project's objective is to improve raw materials supply conditions for the EU economy and the world market (Improved international resource transparency and governance leads to stability, predictability, resource-efficiency and hence a better foundation for competitiveness on a sustainable basis). The project is an industry initiative which aims to create a standardised sustainability certification for rare earth elements as well as a software system to improve data transfer between supply chain actors. In practical terms, the CSyARES project intends to integrate Minviro's sustainability metric platform (using life cycle assessment methodology) with REIA’s sustainability standards for REE and Circularise's blockchain-based traceability software. The integrated solution provides affordable confidentiality-preserving certification to suppliers, proving their sustainability metrics. Grundfos and BEC GmbH will then test this solution to trace and measure the environmental impact of their supply chains. The project is three years long and will conclude with the delivery of the integrated platform as a purchasable software service, jointly managed by Minviro and Circularise. This Innovate UK project number refers to the second year of the project, which focuses on valorising LCA data gathered in year one and commencing technology development.

Rare-earth metals are irreplaceable in highly demanded products such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, mobile phones, computers and the defence industry. Therefore, we need to research how to sustainably mine and process these metals. Minviro together with BEC GmbH, Circularise, Grundfos, and the global Rare Earth Industry Association (REIA) started a research project in February 2022, funded by EIT Raw Materials. The research aims to develop a blockchain-based traceability circular system to improve transparency and sustainability of supply chains involving critical and rare earth materials. Rare earth elements (REE) are essential for the transition towards a circular economy and a critical component of many green technology solutions such as energy-efficient lights, wind turbines, hybrid and fully electric vehicles. While these metals are critical to drive sustainability targets forward, there is no certification or standard for socio-environmental reporting to assess sustainability across the REE value chain. REE resource availability is not unlimited and its extraction and processing also comes with an environmental footprint. Therefore there is a clear necessity to establish industry-wide sustainability criteria and schemes to actually certify sustainability accordingly. To reach this goal, the transparency and traceability of the REE value chains needs to be given. The Circular System for Assessing Rare Earth Sustainability (CSyARES) project's objective is to improve raw materials supply conditions for the EU economy and the world market (Improved international resource transparency and governance leads to stability, predictability, resource-efficiency and hence a better foundation for competitiveness on a sustainable basis). The project is an industry initiative which aims to create a standardised sustainability certification for rare earth elements as well as a software system to improve data transfer between supply chain actors. In practical terms, the CSyARES project intends to integrate Minviro's sustainability metric platform (using life cycle assessment methodology) with REIA’s sustainability standards for REE and Circularise's blockchain-based traceability software. The integrated solution provides affordable confidentiality-preserving certification to suppliers, proving their sustainability metrics. Grundfos and BEC GmbH will then test this solution to trace and measure the environmental impact of their supply chains. The project is three years long and will conclude with the delivery of the integrated platform as a purchasable software service, jointly managed by Minviro and Circularise. This Innovate UK project number refers to the second year of the project, which focuses on valorising LCA data gathered in year one and commencing technology development.

Despite being a cornerstone of the UK's industrial and energy-transition strategy, the UK automotive **Lithium-Ion Battery** **(LIB)** production industry faces two existential threats: * **LIBs require vast amounts of critical raw materials, especially the Cathode Active Materials (CAMs) cobalt, nickel and lithium** (175kt needed by 2035). CAMs are all sourced from overseas, creating critical security of supply issues. * OEMs and LIB manufacturers who are responsible for end-of-life (EoL) batteries **lack LIB recycling infrastructure**. Consequently, there is a **growing mountain of automotive LIB waste** (~6.6Mt by 2030) that must be exported, resulting in loss of value to the UK (CAMs worth £1.2bn by 2030). Automotive LIBs can be reused or recycled to deal responsibly with battery-waste and provide a source of battery-grade materials. However, commercial, SotA recycling processes are inefficient and costly, do not produce raw materials of sufficient quality for reuse in automotive batteries, and are only available overseas. Currently, UK battery manufacturers and collectors are: * Losing the value of the CAMs (~£1.2bn by 2030); * Paying European/Asian companies to dispose of batteries; * Increasing reliance on insecure primary material extraction and processing supply lines. REBLEND aims to develop the core processes and capabilities for a UK-based automotive battery recycling industry that can recover CAMs from production scrap and EoL automotive and consumer batteries for reuse in automotive batteries. REBLEND will demonstrate three processes for recovering the most expensive CAMs, cobalt, nickel and lithium through: 1. Combining novel delamination, magnetic, electrostatic and membrane separation techniques to produce separated and \>89% pure anodic and \>94% pure cathodic black mass from shredded EoL LIBs (compared to <89% pure mixed black mass from best-in-class competitor) enabling battery-grade CAM recovery for £6/kg. 2. Direct cathode reclamation from production scrap (containing nickel & cobalt) removing the need for hydro-metallurgy and enabling direct reuse in new cells. 3. Processing coarse shredded material (2-6mm) using electrostatic and magnetic separation, preventing carcinogenic dust formation, significantly reducing H&S risks for workers. Key areas of innovation in the project are: * Optimisation of LIB shredding parameters to reduce undesirable reactions that limit recovery of materials. * Use of world-leading polymeric nanocomposite membrane technology to achieve zero process waste and extract lithium. * Optimisation of innovative electrostatic and magnetic separation techniques and (for the first time) delamination of electrode and current-collector to enable cost-effective recovery of high-purity CAM recyclates at pilot-scale (10kg batches). * Direct recycling techniques for cathode reclamation.

The EcoFlot project (22013), aims to scale-up and demonstrate the CoarseAir flotation technology developed by FLSmidth in the context of “The MissionZero Mine”, which aims to enable customers to move towards zero water and energy waste by 2030. The project focuses on enhanced mineral processing flows for challenging materials, including coarse slurries of base metals that were previously deemed uneconomic to process. The main features compared to the best-in-class technologies include (i) recovery of particles up to 850 micron in size, including particles previously lost to mine tailings; (ii) 3 - 6 % improvement in overall recovery; (iii) increase unit throughput by 30 % and a decrease in flotation footprint by 35 %; (iv) 60 % decrease in flotation energy demand; (v) 40 % reduction in utility demand for air and water; (vi) 10 % reduction in process chemicals due to reduction in particle surface area and no flocculants required for the coarse tailings; (vii) 30 % reduction in comminution energy required; (viii) 30% reduction in water demand and an overall decreased process plant footprint, resulting in a 30 % reduction in CAPEX and a 38 % reduction in OPEX. The project will deliver the first-of-its-kind economically viable CoarseAir flotation demonstration plant with a throughput of up to 2,640 t/d to achieve TRL 8. Commercialisation and market deployment are estimated 2.5 to 3.5 years after the start of the project to reach TRL 9. It has the potential to become a truly transformative innovation. Target markets are metals ores such as copper, gold, molybdenum, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, and industrial minerals are graphite, potash and phosphate. The proposed EIT project will significantly reduce scale-up and economic risks and speed up commercialisation. As part of the project and to support the environmental benefits of the CoarseAir flotation technology, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology will be applied. This assessment will help the consortium assess, quantify and mitigate the impact of the technology.

The HiQ-LCA project, which stands for "High-Quality Life Cycle Assessment for the Battery Industry" (22039) plays a critical role in helping the EU achieve its target of zero emissions from cars. As the market for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow, it's important to address the environmental impact of batteries, its raw materials and components, which make up a significant part of an EV battery carbon footprint. In recent years, the EU has increasingly integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into its policies, including the mandatory LCA requirement for new batteries in the Batteries Regulation1, which contains a mandatory LCA for each new battery entering the EU market. In addition, the industry is confronted with a strong societal drive towards responsible sourcing and sustainable production. However, the reliability and representativeness of current data in LCA databases often falls short in terms of reliability and representation. The HiQ-LCA project aims to solve this problem by creating LCA datasets that are both reliable and transparent. These datasets will help differentiate between different technologies and their associated environmental impacts across their supply chains. This information is highly valuable to industry stakeholders, investors, and regulatory authorities. Based on the improved data, unique LCA services will be created and commercialized via the foundation of a new start-up. These services will include environmental footprint methods, quantification, benchmarking, verification and certification of products and guidance to improve environmental performance. Furthermore, related trainings for industries will be offered. Beginning with batteries, the new startup aspires to become a key partner for materials-based LCA in the future. Minviro is uniquely positioned to make a key contribution. With our extensive industrial expertise in the battery raw materials supply chain, we are well-equipped to guide the rest of the partners and ensure that the data, services, and training provided by HiQ-LCA are not only reliable but also practical for industry stakeholders. Our insights and guidance will be instrumental in bridging the gap between environmental sustainability and real-world industrial practices. 1. European Parliament and European Council. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries. Official Journal of the European Union 117 (2023).

The EcoFlot project (22013), aims to scale-up and demonstrate the CoarseAir flotation technology developed by FLSmidth in the context of “The MissionZero Mine”, which aims to enable customers to move towards zero water and energy waste by 2030. The project focuses on enhanced mineral processing flows for challenging materials, including coarse slurries of base metals that were previously deemed uneconomic to process. The main features compared to the best-in-class technologies include (i) recovery of particles up to 850 micron in size, including particles previously lost to mine tailings; (ii) 3 - 6 % improvement in overall recovery; (iii) increase unit throughput by 30 % and a decrease in flotation footprint by 35 %; (iv) 60 % decrease in flotation energy demand; (v) 40 % reduction in utility demand for air and water; (vi) 10 % reduction in process chemicals due to reduction in particle surface area and no flocculants required for the coarse tailings; (vii) 30 % reduction in comminution energy required; (viii) 30% reduction in water demand and an overall decreased process plant footprint, resulting in a 30 % reduction in CAPEX and a 38 % reduction in OPEX. The project will deliver the first-of-its-kind economically viable CoarseAir flotation demonstration plant with a throughput of up to 2,640 t/d to achieve TRL 8. Commercialisation and market deployment are estimated 2.5 to 3.5 years after the start of the project to reach TRL 9. It has the potential to become a truly transformative innovation. Target markets are metals ores such as copper, gold, molybdenum, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, and industrial minerals are graphite, potash and phosphate. The proposed EIT project will significantly reduce scale-up and economic risks and speed up commercialisation. As part of the project and to support the environmental benefits of the CoarseAir flotation technology, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology will be applied. This assessment will help the consortium assess, quantify and mitigate the impact of the technology.

The HiQ-LCA project, which stands for "High-Quality Life Cycle Assessment for the Battery Industry" (22039) plays a critical role in helping the EU achieve its target of zero emissions from cars. As the market for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow, it's important to address the environmental impact of batteries, its raw materials and components, which make up a significant part of an EV battery carbon footprint. In recent years, the EU has increasingly integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into its policies, including the mandatory LCA requirement for new batteries in the Batteries Regulation1, which contains a mandatory LCA for each new battery entering the EU market. In addition, the industry is confronted with a strong societal drive towards responsible sourcing and sustainable production. However, the reliability and representativeness of current data in LCA databases often falls short in terms of reliability and representation. The HiQ-LCA project aims to solve this problem by creating LCA datasets that are both reliable and transparent. These datasets will help differentiate between different technologies and their associated environmental impacts across their supply chains. This information is highly valuable to industry stakeholders, investors, and regulatory authorities. Based on the improved data, unique LCA services will be created and commercialized via the foundation of a new start-up. These services will include environmental footprint methods, quantification, benchmarking, verification and certification of products and guidance to improve environmental performance. Furthermore, related trainings for industries will be offered. Beginning with batteries, the new startup aspires to become a key partner for materials-based LCA in the future. Minviro is uniquely positioned to make a key contribution. With our extensive industrial expertise in the battery raw materials supply chain, we are well-equipped to guide the rest of the partners and ensure that the data, services, and training provided by HiQ-LCA are not only reliable but also practical for industry stakeholders. Our insights and guidance will be instrumental in bridging the gap between environmental sustainability and real-world industrial practices. 1. European Parliament and European Council. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries. Official Journal of the European Union 117 (2023).

The transition to a low-carbon economy is well underway and accelerating. However, low-emission energy and transportation systems, such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) or solar panels, are more mineral intensive compared to fossil fuel equivalents. Many mineral inputs are irreplaceable in manufacture, or have high-risk of supply disruption, thus known as 'Critical Raw Materials' (CRMs). Their demand is set to increase exponentially (540% for lithium, 292% for cobalt by 2030 \[IEA,2020\]). The UK imports nearly 100% of CRMs thus circular strategies are an ideal solution to decrease material criticality; over 1/3rd of UK domestic rare earth element demand could be addressed by 2035 by recycling material waste \[Green Alliance,2018\]. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a method to systematically measure impacts of supply chains, (including 'trade-off' impacts associated with new recycling plants) defining those with the 'lowest environmental impact'. It can also be used to identify environmental 'hot-spots' to optimise site design. Minviro Ltd is a UK SME pioneering world-leading LCA tools to enable the mineral value-chain to radically improve their environmental credentials. A spin-out from the world-class Camborne School of Mines, Minviro comprises mineralogists, mining-engineers and LCA specialists. It is currently working with some of the largest diversified mining companies in the world and downstream end-users to ensure raw materials used for the low-carbon economy are sourced at minimal environmental cost. Minviro is currently developing two LCA software products (for use by non LCA experts) to support: * better design of mines/processing facilities/refineries (cradle-to-refinery-gate) (MineLCA). * downstream users in battery manufacturing (cradle-to-factory-gate) to select materials with minimal environmental impacts (MineBIT). By building on pioneering research by the Met4Tech Centre from University of Exeter Circular Economy Group (part of the National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Programme 'NICER'), Minviro will be able to integrate circular metrics to its current LCA digital solutions. This software add-on 'MineLoop' will sit within its existing LCA tools, helping drive circularity at every part of the supply-chain (to lower the carbon footprint of each process step). Integrating MineLoop will enable Minviro to make transparent the environmental impact of CRMs from any Primary _and_ Secondary source (including recyclates). This project translates amazing British science into a world-beating approach to impact quantification that will drive the decarbonisation of the tech-metals sector.

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The transition to a low-carbon economy is well underway and accelerating. However, low-emission energy and transportation systems, such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) or solar panels, are more mineral-intensive compared to fossil fuel equivalents. As such, mineral extraction is projected to rise by 965% for lithium, 585% for cobalt, 383% for graphite and 241% for indium by 2050 \[World Bank, 2019\] increasing associated environmental stresses. To deeply decarbonise supply-chains, downstream users of minerals (such as OEMs assembling EVs), need to be able to understand the environmental performance of their supply chains to ensure the technologies they build are not offset by poor environmental performance at mine-sites. To build sustainable, low-impact products, they also need to optimise manufacturing processes, chemical selection and build using circular economy principles (enabling high-grade recycling when products reach end-of-life) whilst still producing premier, competitive battery products. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a method to systematically measure impacts of supply chains and dynamically redesign battery compositions (aka low impact _and_ high-performing chemicals) whilst responding to shifts in commodity markets to reduce the carbon footprint of projects. Yet LCA requires excellent data to accurately quantify different impacts for raw material extraction, processing and refining at a mine-site by mine-site level. However, datasets built by the mining community to feed into LCA are often meagre/non-existent undermining their integrity. **Minviro Ltd** is a UK SME pioneering world-leading LCA tools to enable the mineral value-chain to radically improve their environmental credentials. The company is a spin-out from the world-class Camborne School of Mines, comprising of mineralogists, mining-engineers and LCA specialists and is currently working with some of the largest diversified mining companies in the world and downstream end-users to ensure raw materials used for the low-carbon economy are sourced at minimal environmental cost. Minviro's strategic research partner, from the **Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Group at WMG, University of Warwick**, are specialists in modelling dynamic supply-chains; sustainable materials/manufacturing systems; digital lifecycle management; battery system engineering; new product development; and advanced propulsion systems. This fusion of experts, will translate amazing British science into a world-beating innovation, building novel and licensable battery impact calculator 'MineBIT', underpinned by data-driven (peer-reviewed) and temporal LCA. This highly novel 'off-the-shelf' tool will fully comply with international standards ISO14040 and ISO14044 and enable non LCA experts across global supply-chains (including OEM's, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers and investors) to source chemicals and dynamically build products with minimal environmental cost.

The mining sector generates 11% of global greenhouse gases (GHG) directly. Include indirect impacts, such as impacts associated with electricity generation to power mines and this rises to \>35% \[OECD/IEA, 2018\]. The transition to a low-carbon economy is well underway and accelerating. But low-emission energy and transportation systems are more mineral-intensive compared to the fossil fuel equivalents. The transition means more mines will be required in Europe and around the world, allowing for a low-impact localised supply chain. For example, minerals used in low-carbon technologies are projected to rise by 965% for lithium, 585% for cobalt, 383% for graphite and 241% for indium by 2050 \[World Bank, 2019\]. New mines need to ensure they are extracting these critical minerals in an environmentally responsible way. Minviro has developed technology to assess the environmental impacts of different mining project configurations, which can support in reducing the carbon footprint of projects. The technology will be used: by mining and engineering companies to minimise the impact of their own projects; by investors to ensure that they are not putting money into a high-risk environmentally damaging assets; and by equipment manufacturers, such as electric car manufacturers, to ensure they are procuring metals from mines that have a good environmental performance.