Aqua Metals begins AquaRefining equipment shipments to Acme Metal

Aqua Metals Inc., headquartered in Reno, Nevada, has begun Aqualyzer equipment shipments to Acme Metal. The Taiwanese company is constructing the world’s first licensed AquaRefining facility.

The equipment shipments have originated from the U.S. and from suppliers Aqua Metals has established in Taiwan and will support the previously announced plan to install and commission the AquaRefining facility in early 2022. The facility will produce AquaRefined briquettes for Acme Metal’s Asia Pacific-based global battery manufacturing customers to develop a direct to battery-grade oxide production process. This will bring the AquaRefining process one step closer to streamlining the link between battery recycling and new battery manufacturing by eliminating the economic and environmental costs of manufacturing ingots from the recycling process, Aqua Metals says.

“We have finalized the Phase 1 deployment plans and begun the transition from design and shipments to execution and commissioning of the Phase 1 deployment at Acme Metal, where our Aqua Metals team will supervise the installation, provide commissioning and training and handover ongoing operations of the Phase 1 implementation to Acme by Q2 2022,” says Ben Taecker, chief engineering and operations officer, Aqua Metals. “We will also finalize the details for the Phase 2 scale-up planned to take place later in 2022.”

Steve Cotton, president and CEO of Aqua Metals, says, “Aqua Metals is proud of our progress with the commercial rollout of our third-generation AquaRefining solution for lead recycling. Our team and the Acme team have worked tirelessly to drive this project forward to create a truly innovative showcase of the first AquaRefining operation in the APAC region.”

He adds that the company’s sales pipeline continues to mature.

“We are also expediting our development of AquaRefining for lithium-ion batteries so that this rapidly growing industry can utilize the clean, low emissions, low waste and safe working environmental advantages of our innovative technology,” Cotton continues. “A clean recycling process for the coming tsunami of lithium-ion batteries will enable the industry to recover the critical minerals in these batteries while making a direct, positive impact on confronting global climate change.”