Electra Battery Materials has been able to recover high-value elements in its battery materials recycling trial, confirming that the company will continue to process black materials at its refinery complex.
The company said it achieved higher metal content in saleable products produced and reduced the use of reagents in its recycling process. Black mass is defined as material remaining once expired lithium-ion batteries are shredded and all casings removed. It contains high-value elements, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and graphite, that can be recovered and recycled to produce new lithium-ion batteries.
To date, Electra said it has processed 40 tons of black mass material in a plant-scale setting. Since starting its trial in December 2022, the company has improved the recovery rate for all targeted materials, including recovery rates for manganese –– more than 50% than rates achieved in a lab setting.
The trial comes as battery recycling has become a focus amid an increase in electric vehicles. Improving sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of batteries is increasingly important as demand rises, including recycling for new lithium batteries.
The trial is ongoing at the company’s refinery complex north of Toronto, and while its cobalt refinery is still under construction, equipment installation, and refurbishment allow the recycling trail to continue alongside construction.
“Results from of our plant-scale black mass trial continue to exceed our expectations,” Trent Mell, Electra’s CEO, said in a statement. “Recovery rates for nickel, cobalt, and manganese continue to improve along with enhancements to our hydrometallurgical process and reductions in reagent consumption. As we accelerate our black mass recycling strategy, our focus has broadened to include upstream battery scrap shredding as well as upgrading our refined products to a battery-grade quality. While we anticipate releasing a summary report of our findings from the demonstration plant we have been operating for the past nine months, we have decided to extend our demonstration plant operations to build on recent success.”
The company has processed material in a batch mode in its trial, extracting products containing lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and graphite. Since the start of the trial, Electra has also increased the metal content contained in the nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate in the range of 5% to 10%. In addition, roughly 20 tons of nickel-cobalt MHP product has been shipped to customers to date.
