Aqua Metals has successfully recovered high-purity nickel from lithium battery “black mass” using its proprietary process, Li AquaRefining.
The Li AquaRefining technology eliminates the need for energy-intensive and wasteful chemical processes, cutting down cost and pollution. The process works by electroplating in a closed loop.
“Aqua Metals continues to drive clean battery recycling forward and recovering high purity nickel without a polluting smelter or train loads of one-time-use chemicals and costly waste streams is a landmark achievement for the industry,” said Steve Cotton, Aqua Metals’ President and CEO.
Aqua Metals’ Li AquaRefining Pilot is the only operational electro-hydrometallurgy lithium battery recycling facility in North America and the company is currently ramping up production of high-value products such as nickel, copper, and lithium hydroxide.