American Manganese Inc. (TSX-V:AMY, OTCQB:AMYZF) and its research contractor Kemetco Research have reported that the company’s 6,700-square feet demonstration plant facility in Greater Vancouver is primed and taking delivery of major equipment to advance its RecycLiCo project.
The Surrey, British Columbia-based critical metals company noted that with the planned operation start-up in February 2022, American Manganese's 500 kilograms (kg) a day cathode waste RecycLiCo plant is poised to become the first hydrometallurgical demo facility in North America for lithium-ion battery recycling and upcycling.
Powered by a clean source of hydroelectric power, the RecycLiCo plant is equipped to demonstrate “continuous, real-world operating conditions” and to “supply bulk quantities of upcycled products” to potential strategic partners, said the company.
As part of its business model, American Manganese plans to license and joint venture its patented RecycLiCo process to battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers as an in-house technology partner that offers a circular supply of cathode precursors and lithium compound products for zero waste battery manufacturing.
American Manganese said that its patented, closed-loop RecycLiCo process flowsheet can recycle over 99% of the lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese in lithium-ion battery waste and upcycle them into high-value lithium-ion battery materials for direct integration into the re-manufacturing of new lithium-ion batteries.
The RecycLiCo process flowsheet has been “successfully scaled from lab scale to a 150 kg/day batch pilot plant and de-risked through various optimization tests, design, and energy modelling”, said the company.
"There is a mismatch in processing capacity that exists between the mechanical size reduction of batteries into black mass material and the hydrometallurgical process that turns the black mass into usable battery materials,” American Manganese CEO Larry Reaugh said in a statement.
“The demonstration plant's 500 kg/day cathode waste material would be approximately equivalent to recycling 2.5 tonnes/day of whole lithium-ion battery packs," he added.
Reaugh noted that with no existing large-scale hydrometallurgical facility in North America to recycle and upcycle battery production scrap and black mass material, the firm’s RecycLiCo demonstration plant is stepping in at “just the right time to fill a technology gap in the battery supply chain".
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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