QUEEN (Quartz Enrichment Enabling Near-Zero Silicon) is a EU-funded project addresses a significant challenge: EU’s heavy reliance on external sources for critical raw materials, especially metallurgical silicon (MG-Si).

This EU project is a leap forward in sustainability, focusing on eco-friendly processes for high-purity quartz production.

The overall objective is the development of a new environmentally friendly metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) process from quarry sands (smelting and mineral extraction processes) reducing CO2 total emissions, potentially transforming any EU quarry with quartz into an MG-Si reservoir, with technologies adaptable to other materials.

QUEEN is part of Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting, and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges.

It supports creating and better dispersing of excellent knowledge and technologies.

It creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness, and optimizes investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area. In this sense, QUEEN is perfectly aligned with the scope and outcomes of HORIZON-CL4-TWIN TRANSITION-01-20.