American Manganese has begun the final testing stages on NCA (nickel cobalt aluminium) cathode materials at its RecycLiCo™ pilot plant – the company’s proprietary innovation that recycles materials from lithium-ion batteries.
Test results in July, by the company’s independent research contractor Kemetco Research, reported 99.93% purity results using recovered NMC pregnant leach solution following stages 3 and 4.
The final stage will include the recovery of battery grade lithium carbonate as well as the recycling of process reagents and water. Stage 5 will also incorporate a new patent application that improves processing and recovery capabilities.
Stages 1 and 2 were able to produce 500L of pregnant leach solution from NMC (lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt) and NCA cathode materials.
NCA and NMC cathodes are used in electric vehicles battery packs by vehicle OEMs such as Tesla, Nissan, BMW, and Volkswagen.
“There are many lithium-ion battery cathode chemistries used in a variety of applications from portable electronics to electric vehicles,” said Larry Reaugh, president and CEO of American Manganese.
“The company plans to extend testing and provide proof-of-concept for third-party materials, which consist of NMC and NCA cathode materials.”
