Metal recovery from wastewater integrated hydrogen production systems
The iX programme is supporting HydroStar Europe Ltd to identify innovators who can provide selective, ideally electrochemical or electrolysis based, recovery solutions for metals such as magnesium, lithium and copper from wasterwater streams. These solutions will be trialled at small scale within HydroStar;s NextGen membraneless electrolyser, enabling integrated pilot testing under real wastewater operating conditions.
Opportunity
Challenge opens
16/04/2026
Challenge closes
29/05/2026
Benefit
HydroStar Europe Ltd is seeking innovative solutions (electrochemical/electrolysis based) that enable the selective recovery of metals such as magnesium, lithium and copper from wastewater sreams used in its membrane-free hydrogen production system. Selected solution(s) will begin with small scale pilot trials integrated directly into HydroStar's next-generation electrolyser system, using real wastewater feedstocks under controlledtest conditions. Pending successful results, solutions may progress to larger-scale demonstrations and onward commercial deployment.
Background
HydroStar Europe Ltd is a clean-energy technology company that has developed the NextGen membraneless electrolyser capable of operating directly on municipal and industrial wastewater. The membraneless system approach removes the need for costly purification steps and eliminates reliance on membranes, which typically contribute 30 - 40% of the cost and complexity of conventional PEM eletrolyser systems. This allows HydroStar to use contaminated wastewater as the feedstock for green hydrogen production.
Conventional hydrogen production systems rely on purified water feedstocks, meaning that dissolved minerals and metals present in wastewater streams are typically removed upstream and not utilised. At the same time, while municipal and industrial wastewaters can contain trace quantities of valuable metals such as magnesium, lithium and copper, these concentrations are generally too low to support economically viable standalone recovery processes.
As a result, these potential resources remain largely unexploited. Meanwhile, the UK continues to rely heavily on imported critical minerals required for technologies such as batteries, motors and electrolysers, exposing supply chains to volatility and global constraints.
HydroStar's motivation for this challenge is to integrate resource recovery directly into its wastewater-fed electrolyser system. This integration would allow the system to generate multiple value streams, clean hydrogen and recovered critical minerals from a single wastewater feedstock. By embedding resource recovery into the electrolysis process, Hydrostar aims to strengthen the economic case for green hydrogen, improve system scalability and contribute to the UK's long-term goals for circularity, resource security, and clean industrial growth.
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