First extraction of Lithium from Black Mass
(July 2022, Manchester UK) - Manchester based Watercycle Technologies Ltd, a pioneering critical minerals and water filtration specialist, is pleased to announce that it has successfully extracted lithium from ‘Black Mass’ using its proprietary filtration process. Black Mass' is a type of e-waste comprising crushed and shredded End of Life battery cells and is obtained once a battery has been processed for recycling. It contains mixtures of valuable metals including lithium, manganese, cobalt and nickel.
The recent tests at the Company’s laboratories in Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre in Manchester UK, have proved Watercycle’s technology can recover a high percentage of lithium and other minerals from Black Mass, whilst delivering valuable by-products to ensure zero-waste. Operating after the sorting and shredding phase in the leaching and refining stage of the battery recycling process, the process can take mixed black mass and apply its chemical extraction process to recover lithium. Once extracted, the process can then crystallise the lithium solution into a high value salt.
Importantly, the Company can deal with multi-mineral solutions; its systems being designed to extract a selected mineral whilst keeping others away. Its tailored membranes can extract specific minerals due to the chemical structure of the membrane additive something important within the recycling arena.
Watercycle CEO Dr Seb Leaper said, “Our proprietary filtration membranes and systems have enabled us to extract lithium from black mass, which underpins our drive into the battery recycling arena. We believe our system is more cost and environmentally friendly than our competitors due to its multistep extraction process, which enables high value by-products to be recovered that can either be sold on or reused and can thereby offset the cost of reagents in the wider process.”
ENDS
About Watercycle Technologies Ltd - www.watercycletechnologies.com
Watercycle, spun out from the University of Manchester and backed by business accelerator Aer Ventures, is an innovative, sustainability-driven deep tech company focused on developing high-yield, low-cost mineral extraction, and water treatment systems. Its advanced innovative membrane distillation-crystallisation (‘MDC’) technology is capable of treating highly concentrated water and is initially being utilised in lithium production from sub surface water and brines, as well as lithium-ion spent battery recycling, particularly relevant with regards to the current global transition towards a Circular Economy. The Company is operating from the world class facilities at the Masdar Building at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre in Manchester, enabling the team to conduct critical R&D in state-of-the-art laboratories. Watercycle has a strong ethics-based business model that delivers profitable commercial solutions that are also focused on sustainability, environmental protection, and remediation.
About The Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) - www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk/geic
GEIC helps companies develop and launch new technologies, products and processes that exploit the remarkable properties of graphene and other 2D materials. Its world class facilities and resources, housed in the Masdar Building, are supported by experienced and knowledgeable applications engineers and internationally renowned academics, working across a broad range of novel technologies and applications. Together, it can help design, develop, scale and ‘de-risk’ the next generation of innovative products and processes.