Battery recycler RecycLiCo Battery Materials and its R&D partner Kemetco Research announced that the leach section of a demonstration plant project achieved over 99% extraction. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese all came out of lithium-ion battery production scrap.
During the demonstration plant’s leach stage testing, various operating parameters were investigated to determine the optimal conditions for ongoing commercial plant design and planning. Analysis of a range of leach data showed the successful extraction results.
RecycLiCo said the demonstration plant has leached a few tonnes worth of li-ion battery production scrap, the primary source of recyclable materials. The scrap material comes from losses in the battery cell manufacturing process due to incompliant quality.
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, battery scrap will account for 78% of the pool of recyclable materials in 2025 and remain a significant recyclable source beyond 2030.
Zarko Meseldzija, CTO and Director of American Manganese, which owns the RecycLiCo trading name, said: “Given the scrap’s intrinsic value, it can be viewed as a resource instead of waste material, and the battery manufacturers will ultimately dictate the supply of their scrap steams. However, with the increasing value and shortage of battery materials, battery manufacturers have a stronger incentive to recycle in-house.
“Integrating our patented process alongside battery production scrap sources could enable battery manufacturers to build an internal closed-loop supply chain that recovers scrap materials and introduces upcycled material back into battery re-manufacturing.”
Photo: RecycLiCo claims over 99% leach extraction of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from li-ion battery production scrap
