American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) said it has secured the exclusive worldwide rights for a new provisional patent filed by the company's technology and research partner, Purdue University, for the isolation and purification of battery-grade materials using multi-mode chromatography for all feedstocks.
The provisional patent was filed on March 25, 2022, by the Purdue Research Foundation to establish and protect the company's "versatile multi-dimension and multi-mode chromatography methods for producing high-purity lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese salts with high yields from all feedstocks including end-of-life batteries," the company said.
"This particular patent further enhances our ability to be the lowest cost provider for the final stage of producing isolated and purified, battery-grade materials that can be used to manufacture new lithium-ion batteries,” Mark LaVerghetta, the company's head of Corporate Finance and Communications said in a statement.
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“We look forward to working with black mass producers as well as the battery manufacturers to provide a more comprehensive and sustainable solution for both upstream and downstream materials," he added.
Advantages of the patented technology include:
- High purity (>99.5%) products with high yields (~99%) from complex mixtures;
- Impurities effectively removed to below 5 ppm, before further purification;
- Compact processing volume, small footprint, and high productivity;
- Only utilizes safe and mild chemicals in ambient temperature and low-pressure equipment ensuring almost zero wastewater discharge and low hydrocarbon emissions;
- Low capital and energy costs;
- Only sodium salts are generated in the process as waste;
- Ability to produce battery-grade and high-purity, isolated elements or high-purity mixtures of Li, Co, Ni and Mn; and,
- Highly efficient and flexible for processing feedstocks with different compositions at different production scales
Mung Chiang, executive vice president of Purdue University for Strategic Initiatives, said: "We are excited about furthering our relationship with American Resources Corporation and its subsidiary American Rare Earth LLC given their passion and efforts to commercialize our high value technologies that are solving complex equations in regard to national security, national supply chain and sustainability challenges for electrified products including electric vehicles. “
Chiang, also the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, added: We believe these technologies are both cost-effective and environmentally safe to be performed and scaled throughout the domestic market. With American Resources' growth and their broadening relationships, such as with the Heritage Group, we believe they have the team and resources to bring this to scale as a real solution throughout the US and then world."
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com