Report of KU-UNIVIE Joint Grant Program
Section 1
Project title:
Project coordinator (KU)
Name
Position
Faculty, department
Project coordinator (UNIVIE)
Name
Position
Faculty, department
Period of project
Project location

For events*1(e.g. workshops,seminars, symposia)
Approx.
number ofparticipants
For other exchange
activities (such as
researcher visits and onlinemeetings) *2

Large-scale hierarchically-porous silica monoliths for rare earth element
extraction from non-traditional feedstocks
Kazuki Nakanishi
Program-Specific Professor
Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences
Freddy Kleitz
University ProfessorFaculty of Chemistry, Department of Inorganic Chemistry – FunctionalMaterials
From: July 2022
To: February 2023
KU: UNIVIE:  Other:[KU] Faculty members: 1
Students: 0[UNIVIE] Faculty members: 3
Students: 25
Other institutions: DualPore Solutions Inc.

Others: 0Others: 1*Please attach a participant list if possible. (the list will NOT be publicized)[KU] Faculty members: 2[UNIVIE] Faculty members: 0
Other institutions:Students: 5
Students: 1

Others: 1
Others: 0If applicable: URL at which
project outcomes can be viewed(e.g. workshop
notifications/programs/reports,
evidence of academic papers
published or otherwise madeavailable, etc.)
If available: Photographs withcaptions*1*2

Please enter the number of participants for each event.
Please count each individual participant once only, even if they participate multiple times.

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Section 2
Summary of the project (approx. 200 words)*KU project coordinators are required to submit a summary of the project in Japanese in addition to theEnglish summary (approx. 400 characters).
Kyoto University and University of Vienna researchers collaborated to study and to transfer expertiseand experience related to the synthesis and application of hierarchically-porous silica monoliths forcritical materials (CM) recovery. These monoliths offer numerous advantages for CM extraction andpurification, most notably their high surface area for adsorption (with or without grafted ligands on thesilica surfaces) and the possibility of rapid mass transfer through the sorbent in a continuous-flowsystem. Unfunctionalized silica is especially well-suited for scandium (Sc) extraction, given its naturallyhigh affinity for that metal. For the project, monoliths of several different types were synthesizedaccording to established KU methods, with an emphasis on larger monoliths in an effort to progress thetechnique closer to the industrial scale. Furthermore, powdered monoliths may offer even additional
advantages for selective metal recovery. The application of the powders circumvents the challenges of
producing very large monoliths for industrial use and offers a more flexible package that can be adapted
to many different extraction systems. These monolith powders have here been systematically tested for
Sc extraction in both batch and continuous-flow column systems, and they demonstrate excellent
potential for Sc recovery at a range of conditions, even without the surface modification that iscommonly applied to most advanced, synthetic sorbents.
京都大学とウィーン大学の研究者は、重要物質（CM）回収のための階層型多孔質シリカモノリスの合成と応用に関する専門知識と経験を共同で研究し、移転することに成功しました。このモノリスは、CM の抽出や精製に多くの利点をもたらします。特に、高い吸着表面積（シリカ表面へのグラフト配位子の有無にかかわらず）と、連続フローシステムにおける吸着剤を介した迅速な物質移動が可能であることが特徴です。特に、スカンジウム（Sc）に対する親和性が高いことから、無官能化シリカはスカンジウムの抽出に適しています。このプロジェクトでは、KU の確立された方法に従って、いくつかの異なるタイプのモノリスが合成されましたが、より大きなモノリスに重点を置いて、この技術を工業規模に近づけることを目指しました。さらに、粉末化したモノリスは、選択的な金属回収にさらなる利点をもたらす可能性があります。粉末を使用することで、工業用として非常に大きなモノリスを製造する際の課題を回避し、さまざまな抽出システムに適応できるより柔軟なパッケージを提供することができます。これらのモノリスパウダーは、バッチ式および連続フロー式カラムシステムで Sc 抽出のための系統的な試験を行い、最先端の合成吸着剤に一般的に適用されている表面改質なしでも、さまざまな条件で Sc 回収の優れた可能性を示しています。

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