TriFluorium

About the project

The TriFluorium project aims to expand circular economy capabilities by developing a novel recycling approach for highly stable organofluoride waste, including PFAS and fluoropolymers, to generate stable inorganic fluorides. By utilizing the tribolysis process, TriFluorium enables the safe, sustainable, and efficient regeneration of fluorine into inorganic fluorides, such as fluorspar, which serves as an essential industrial resource. Given the critical role of fluoropolymers in key industries like semiconductors, hydrogen production, fuel cells, and electric vehicles, improving their recycling is essential to overcoming current disposal limitations and reducing reliance on imported fluorspar, which has a low recycling rate of only 1% within the EU.

Background

Fluoropolymers are indispensable in various advanced applications but present significant challenges in terms of disposal and recycling due to their chemical stability. The limited recycling rate of fluorspar, a crucial raw material listed as critical by the EU, underscores the need for innovative recycling technologies. TriFluorium addresses this issue by utilizing tribolysis, a process that promotes chemical reactions through mechanical stimuli. This method allows the decomposition of highly stable organofluorides, including perfluorinated compounds, within a single processing step, converting them into safe, stable inorganic products through the activation of benign reactants like alkaline earth metal salts or oxides.