Aqua Metals, a sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling company, has extracted high-purity nickel from lithium battery black mass.
This was accomplished by utilising the company’s proprietary Li AquaRefiningTM method, which uses electricity and removes the need for a polluting smelter or the generation of considerable chemical waste during recycling.
Aqua Metals’ revolutionary lithium battery recycling technique enables the recovery of all critical metals, supporting a circular supply chain.
Current commercial lithium battery recycling technologies rely on an energy-intensive smelting process that emits hazardous fumes and cannot recover useful lithium or manganese. The proposed recycling of hydrometallurgy entails the consumption of tonnes of hazardous chemicals, resulting in landfill trash and a prominent environmental effect from the production and delivery of one-time-use chemicals.
Aqua Metals recovers nickel and other important metals by revolutionary electroplating in a closed-loop system using its Li AquaRefiningTM technology.
This avoids the need for energy-intensive and wasteful chemical operations, which would increase recycling costs and emissions. In addition, because nickel is a major component in the global transition to renewable energy technologies, such as electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems, its long-term recovery is critical.
Aqua Metals has also announced the successful extraction of high-purity lithium hydroxide and copper from ‘black mass’ at its Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center pilot facility.
Aqua Metals’ Li AquaRefiningTM Pilot is North America’s only operational electro-hydrometallurgy lithium battery recycling facility. The company has already shown promising outcomes at the lab and bench scales.
Aqua Metals is increasing the production of high-value products such as pure nickel, copper, and lithium hydroxide at the Li AquaRefining Pilot facility.
In addition, the corporation has declared ambitions to build an integrated clean metals recycling complex. Aqua Metals is commissioning a 3,000-tonne-per-year commercial recycling facility on a five-acre site as part of this project, which will serve as the first phase of the development.