X-ray Mineral Services Finland OY, part of the Hafren Scientific Group are delighted to announce that Dr. Pyry-Mikko Hannula (pictured below) will be joining the team, based in Espoo, in April 2021.

Pyry has a background in electrochemistry and hydrometallurgy. He has a D.Sc. (Tech.) from Aalto University, where he finished his doctoral thesis on electrochemical production and characterisation of a novel carbon nanotube-copper composite material in 2019.

Since then, Pyry has worked as the project manager for the Aalto University coordinated “Finland based circular ecosystem of battery metals” BATCircle project. The 21 M€ flagship project, funded by Business Finland, consists of six research organisations, supported by 23 Finnish companies, conducting research into primary resources, metals refining, battery recycling, precursors and active materials and circular ecosystem business potential.

As project manager, Pyry coordinated activities within the ecosystem and became well acquainted with the Finnish battery scene and its various stakeholders in the public and private sectors. Pyry has also worked as a post-doctoral researcher within the Hydrometallurgy and Corrosion Research Group at Aalto in various projects focused on metals recovery from waste sources, novel methods and materials production, and diverse topics within the wide-ranging battery raw materials and recycling areas.

Pyry will be working alongside Prof. Pekka Nurmi and Dr. Tim Pearce assisting with the establishment of our new Espoo-based company, X-ray Mineral Services Finland OY, and facilitating the company’s future participation in the development of Finland’s battery cluster. XMS aim to enable more efficient screening and utilisation of mineral resources, enhancement of the metal refining processes, more efficient recycling of battery metals along with improved co-operation between the companies and research organisations.

Dr. Tim Pearce, Hafren Group MD, said,
"Our geoscience group believes that timely delivery of high-quality data in the laboratory, in the field and in the mine is at the heart of robust analytical solutions and the Hafren Group has had considerable success in providing clients with practical solutions that do not compromise on quality,"

“Furthermore, our recruitment of Pyry greatly energises our plans as he brings a wealth of experience in the Finnish battery ecosystem and will help XMSF broaden its remit to include the characterisation of Minerals, Metals and Materials to help develop science across the battery value chain.”

Hafren’s principal focus in the oil and gas sector is to de-risk exploration and enable wells to be drilled with increased success and reduced environmental impact. Hafren are extending this philosophy to the battery mineral value chain by establishing new analytical workflows for mineral, metal and material characterisation thereby supporting the entire battery ecosystem. Hafren’s strategy is to migrate its analytical capabilities and skills from oil and gas to support green technologies and circular economies such as battery resources and environmental impact sectors.

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