Galdieria Implements World's First Commercial Ultra-Low Concentration Palladium Recovery System Using Microalgae Bio-Adsorbents

Galdieria Co., Ltd. has announced the full-scale operation of a palladium recovery system at Kakihara Industries Co., Ltd., utilizing precious metal adsorbents derived from the microalgae 'Galdieria'. The company successfully recovered palladium online from plating wastewater characterized by strong acidity, ultra-low concentrations, and high tin coexistence—conditions under which conventional technologies struggle to perform.

This marks Galdieria's first commercial implementation in Japan, launching a full-scale deployment of new urban mining solutions that convert low-concentration precious metals, previously treated as 'waste liquid', into resources.

Palladium is a critical material widely used in manufacturing automotive parts, electronic components, and semiconductor packages. Although plating process wastewater contains trace amounts of palladium (approximately 1 mg/L), its extremely low concentration, high levels of impurities like tin, and strong acidity (around pH 1) made adequate recovery difficult with existing technologies. Conventional methods required extensive pre-treatment, significant installation space, and alterations to the plating process, raising concerns about product quality impacts.

Galdieria solved these challenges through an adsorbent leveraging the unique metal-adsorbing properties of the extremophile microalgae Galdieria, combined with an in-house developed pre-treatment process. At Kakihara Industries, the system targets wastewater from the plastic plating process for automotive parts. It successfully recovers palladium under severe conditions without altering the manufacturing process, requiring limited space, and allowing continuous treatment without stopping the line.

Furthermore, the adsorbent containing the recovered palladium can be sold to refining companies as a raw precious metal material, ensuring higher economic value compared to traditional sludge treatment. This represents a shift to a circular process that turns waste into resources.

Nippon Denko Co., Ltd., Galdieria's capital and business alliance partner, participated in designing and operating the system. The integration of Nippon Denko's water treatment technology with Galdieria's bio-adsorbent technology enabled stable operation at a practical factory level.

Moving forward, Galdieria plans to expand this technology into sectors including plating, electronic components, semiconductors, precious metal refining, and jewelry. The company aims to establish a circular resource recovery infrastructure targeting various precious and rare metals, including gold (Au), platinum (Pt), ruthenium (Ru), and iridium (Ir).