Aqua Metals finishes Li AquaRefining recycling pilot

Aqua Metals Inc., Reno, Nevada, has completed its Li AquaRefining recycling pilot, which is located in the Tahoe-Reno area of Nevada. The company says it has completed the pilot facility commissioning with the recovery of cobalt and manganese dioxide from spent lithium batteries by using its AquaRefining technology. The technology is what Aqua Metals calls “advanced electro-hydrometallurgy,” which replaces traditional furnaces and intensive chemicals with electricity to separate critical metals from spent lithium batteries.

According to a news release from Aqua Metals, the company has completed the pilot from finalized design through to operations in eight months. With the completion, it is transitioning the facility to 24-hour operation, five days a week, scaling the pilot to a capacity of 75 tons per year of processed black mass input.

“Completing commissioning and moving into 24/5 operations at our Li AquaRefining pilot is a tremendous milestone for Aqua Metals and represents the future of sustainable lithium battery recycling in the U.S. and beyond,” says Ben Taecker, chief engineering and operations officer at Aqua Metals. “Not only are we demonstrating the scalability of our solution but also our significant advantages in recovery rates, emissions reductions and worker safety compared to current battery recycling facilities.”

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Based on the success of the pilot, Aqua Metals also is continuing phased development and commissioning of its first commercial-scale facility, which was initiated earlier this year and is underway.

Earlier this year, Aqua Metals had also announced its vision to develop a five-acre clean metals recycling campus, located in Tahoe-Reno, with space for more than 10,000 tons per year of total capacity once completed. The company says it is planning for a phased development of the campus, beginning with the redevelopment of an existing building on-site into its first commercial-scale AquaRefinery, targeting 3,000 tons per year of capacity.

Aqua Metals says it has secured a sufficient supply of black mass to reach that scale at the recycling campus and is in the process of finalizing offtake agreements for the recycled materials. The company expects that at current metals prices and projected processing costs at scale, its phase one recycling facility should generate positive cash flow.

Additionally, Aqua Metals says it intends to sell the high-purity and battery-grade materials produced at the pilot to metals buyers and will start generating revenue from recycled metals in the third quarter of the year. The company also will begin distributing its high-purity production samples to existing and potential customers in battery and cathode manufacturing, advancing ongoing partnerships and long-term offtake discussions.

“As previously guided, the successful execution of our rapid scaling strategy is a testament to the innovation and adaptability of our entire engineering and operations team,” says Steve Cotton, president and CEO of Aqua Metals. “The lessons learned from our pilot and improvements in our modular solution reaffirm our confidence in our commercialization strategy. We have secured more than 3,000 tons of black mass to fuel our operations, enough supply to reach commercial scale in 2024.”