Asahi Kasei, Circularise, and Furuya Metal have launched a joint demonstration project to establish traceability for precious metals used in chlor-alkali electrolysis electrodes and evaluate the issuance of Digital Product Passports (DPPs).
The initiative aims to digitally track the origin, recovery, refining and reuse of critical precious metals to support circular resource use and greater supply chain transparency.
“For Asahi Kasei, the sustainable utilisation of precious metal resources is a critical priority,” said Yoshifumi Kado, senior general manager of Asahi Kasei’s Ion Exchange Membrane & Electrolysis System Division. “Building a truly circular system requires close collaboration among companies involved in collection, refining, and manufacturing.
Precious metals such as iridium and ruthenium are essential materials for electrodes in chlor-alkali electrolysis as well as semiconductors, electronics, and advanced chemical applications.
According to the International Platinum Group Metals Association, global annual primary iridium production is estimated at only around 7 metric tonnes, while annual ruthenium supply is estimated at approximately 30 metric tonnes. Both are among the world’s most supply-constrained critical metals, with production concentrated in a small number of mining regions and largely obtained as a by-product of platinum extraction.
The demand for precious metals is expected to increase as hydrogen production technology scales globally.
While companies can sometimes identify where end-of-life materials are collected and where metals are refined, tracking the materials throughout intermediate processing, refining, and subsequent reuse remains challenging. Without trusted traceability mechanisms, verifying recycled content and demonstrating circularity at scale can be difficult.
The new demonstration seeks to make the entire lifecycle of recycled precious metals visible, from recovery through reintegration into newly manufactured electrodes.
Circularise, a software and blockchain company, specialises in supply chain traceability and secure data-sharing solutions for global industries including chemicals and battery materials. Between February and September 2025, Asahi Kasei and Circularise conducted an initial proof of concept using a simulated recycling scenario. The results showed that the Circularise platform could securely manage data on precious metals recovered from end-of-life electrodes and reused in new products.
“By bringing together Asahi Kasei’s experience in chlor-alkali electrolysis, Furuya Metal’s expertise in precious metal recycling and Circularise’s digital traceability capabilities, we can develop a solution that would be otherwise difficult to do alone – pushing the entire industry forward,” said Kado.
Now, the partners are moving into real-world applications. The project will first focus on establishing traceability across the recycling chain, from the collection of spent electrodes through precious metal extraction, refining, and the production of recycled metal. It will then extend traceability downstream by linking material data to the manufacture of new electrodes, enabling the evaluation of DPPs.
By combining material recovery with trusted digital traceability, the partners will establish a scalable model that helps industries secure access to strategic resources while accelerating the transition toward a more circular economy.
