Webinar: Digitally enabled sustainable metals recycling for circular economies

29 September 2026

How can digital technologies help unlock the full value of critical metals recovered from e-waste? 

As demand for critical materials continues to grow, efficient and sustainable recycling processes are becoming essential to the transition towards a net zero and circular economy. In this webinar, researchers from the EPSRC-funded SUMER project will demonstrate how digital twins, predictive modelling and process optimisation are being used to transform metals separation processes, enabling more sustainable and efficient recovery of valuable resources from waste streams. 

OVERVIEW:

The transition to a circular economy depends on our ability to recover, reuse and retain the value of critical materials that would otherwise be lost to waste. At the same time, increasing demand for critical metals is creating new challenges for sustainable resource supply, particularly as these materials become essential to net zero technologies and an increasingly digital economy.  

This webinar explores how digital technologies are helping to revolutionise sustainable metals recycling and accelerate the development of more efficient, data-driven separation processes. Drawing on research from the SUMER project, experts from UCL Department of Chemical Engineering will demonstrate how digital twins can be used to capture process data, develop predictive models and provide new insights into complex metal separation systems.  

Through a case study focused on the recovery of samarium, a critical metal widely used in high-performance magnets, the speakers will show how predictive modelling and optimisation approaches can support the design of more efficient recycling processes.