Kateřina Hrůzová defended her PhD thesis

On the 26th of September, Kateřina Hrůzová (Biochemical Process Engineering) defended her PhD thesis "Potential of Organosolv Lignin Nanoparticles as a Sustainable Flotation Reagent: Towards a Low-Carbon Footprint Mining Industry", with Professor Saija Luukkanen from University of Oulu as opponent.

The aim of this thesis was to enhance the selectivity of copper extraction from sulphide ores by partially or completely replacing fossil-based xanthate collectors with newly developed lignin nanoparticles. The reduction of up to 75% in the initial xanthate dosage was achieved. Furthermore, when organosolv lignin nanoparticles were introduced as flotation reagents, both the recovery and selectivity of the extraction process for copper were significantly improved.