Lead-acid battery recycling firm Aqua Metals has been granted patents in both India and Indonesia in a move that could pave the way for the rollout of its technology into those countries.
The patents are ‘critical’ to allowing the US firm to license its technologies, which include the AquaRefinery system.
Steve Cotton, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said: “By adding India and Indonesia, with a combined population of around 1.6 billion to our already strong IP portfolio, we have further confidence in our AquaRefining licensing discussions on the global stage.”
The company didn’t comment on whether the patents meant the Nevada-based firm was planning to establish its AquaRefinery technology in either India or Indonesia or lease the IP to India and Indonesian firms the company.
A company spokesman did tell BEST Battery Briefing: “The licensing strategy has not been discussed publicly so I cannot address specific questions. These will be target markets once they launch the licensing programs but timing and firms are something the company has not discussed.”
The company would not be drawn on what other countries they were hoping to gain IP rights in, or which country was potentially next to grant them a patent.
The company has 90 patent applications across seven patents, with key patents filed in 21 countries/regions. The firm has patents granted in Asia, North America and Europe.
The company, which has had fluctuating fortunes in the past two years, announced record ingot production figures in June for three months of this year at its plant in Nevada.
Then last month the company announced it had produced around 355,000 pounds of AquaRefined lead, approximately 13.7% above the previous record of 312,000 pounds.
Unlike smelting, AquaRefining is a room temperature, water-based process. The modular systems are intended to allow the company to vastly reduce environmental impact and scale lead-acid recycling production capacity by licensing the AquaRefinery technology to partners.
