Sustainable manufacturing in the finishing industries and the management of critical technology metals

In the following article we review the discussion presented in a plenary session of the Interfinish 2024World Congress of the International Union for Surface Finishing (IUSF, Kowloon, Hong Kong). Here we describe some aspects of electrochemical materials finishing with a focus on sustainable manufacturing and on the dissolution and recovery of critical technology metals such as silver, gold, nickel, cobalt, silver and gallium. Such metals are often ubiquitous and essential for many modern technologies for example electronics (Ag, Au, Ni), energy conversion used in batteries or solar panels (Ag, Li, Co, Ni, Cu, Al) and even common light sources (Ga, In). However, they are usually present in low concentrations comprising a tiny proportion of an assembled device. We will cover some challenges and novel approaches in reclaiming these technology critical metals as well as exploring the technological synergies shared by the metal finishing and sustainable energy industries.