Aqua Metals, a developer of sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling, announced the successful completion of its Li AquaRefining recycling pilot; transition to 24/5 operations; and production of high-purity, saleable quantities of sustainably recycled battery materials.

The company completed the pilot facility commissioning with the recovery of both cobalt and manganese dioxide, completing the suite of valuable metals (including high-purity lithium hydroxide, nickel, and copper) the company reclaims from spent lithium batteries using its patented AquaRefining technology. (Earlier post.)

Aqua Metals believes this advance makes it the first fully operational lithium battery recycler using advanced electro-hydrometallurgy—replacing polluting furnaces and intensive chemicals typical of recycling with electricity to separate the critical metals from spent lithium batteries.

The company completed the pilot—from finalized design through to operations—in roughly eight months’ time, and with a transition to 24-hour operations is scaling the pilot facility to a capacity of 75 tons per annum (tpa) of processed black mass input.

Based on the success of the pilot, the company also continues the simultaneous phased development and commissioning of its first commercial-scale facility, which was initiated earlier this year and is well underway.

The first phase of Aqua Metals’ recycling campus will be designed to process 3,000tpa black mass, for which the company has secured both sufficient supply of black mass to reach scale 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, that its Phase 1 recycling facility should generate positive cash flow.

Aqua Metals intends to sell the high-purity and battery-grade materials produced at the pilot to metals buyers and start generating initial revenue from recycled metals in the third quarter. The company will also continue distributing its high-purity production samples to existing and potential customers in battery and cathode manufacturing, advancing ongoing partnership and long term off-taker discussions.

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

Aqua Metals’ regenerative electro-hydrometallurgical recycling method offers an improvement over traditional pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling techniques, which produce higher emissions, lower recovery rates, and significant landfill waste. The AquaRefining process reduces the environmental impact of recycling lithium batteries as compared to other processes while providing a higher yield of high-purity metals essential for the burgeoning US battery manufacturing industry.