AURUBIS AG

Their core work

Aurubis is one of Europe's largest copper producers and a major non-ferrous metals recycler, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. In H2020 projects, they contribute industrial-scale expertise in metals recovery, urban mining, and circular economy processes — from automated disassembly of electronics to hydrogen-based extraction of metals from metallurgical waste. Their recent work extends into contaminated land remediation and bio-based fuel production, reflecting their push to decarbonize heavy metallurgical processes.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2019), Aurubis focused squarely on urban mining and electronics recycling — automated disassembly of printed circuit boards, recovery of technology metals, and circular building materials. From 2021 onward, their focus shifted markedly toward green metallurgy: hydrogen-based metal recovery and using phytoremediation to turn contaminated industrial land into biofuel feedstock. This evolution tracks the broader industrial move from mechanical recycling toward decarbonized, chemistry-driven resource recovery.

Aurubis is moving from traditional recycling toward hydrogen-based and bio-based processes for metals recovery, signaling strong interest in decarbonizing their core smelting and refining operations.

How they like to work

Aurubis consistently joins as a participant or third party — never as coordinator — which is typical for a large industrial company contributing real-world facilities, process data, and pilot testing rather than managing the research agenda. With 79 unique partners across 20 countries in just 5 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia. This makes them an accessible partner: they bring industrial validation capacity without competing for project leadership.

Aurubis has built a broad European network of 79 partners across 20 countries through 5 projects, indicating they participate in large multi-national consortia. Their reach spans most of Europe, well beyond their German home base.

What sets them apart

Aurubis brings something rare to EU consortia: they are not a research lab theorizing about circular economy — they are a multi-billion-euro metals producer who actually runs smelters and recycling plants at industrial scale. This means they can validate project outputs in real production environments, provide metallurgical waste streams for research, and offer a credible path from pilot results to commercial deployment. For any project needing an industrial end-user in non-ferrous metals, they are a top-tier partner in Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• HARARE
  Their largest H2020 investment (EUR 799k) and a strategic bet on hydrogen as a reducing agent for metal recovery — directly tied to decarbonizing their core business.
• ADIR
  Addressed automated disassembly and separation of valuable materials from electronics like mobile phones and PCBs — a technically demanding urban mining challenge.
• Phy2Climate
  An unusual cross-domain project linking soil contamination cleanup with biofuel production, showing Aurubis addressing the environmental legacy of industrial sites.