Aqua Metals Successfully Completes Li AquaRefining Pilot, Advances Towards Commercial-Scale Lithium Battery Recycling Operations
29 Junho 2023 - 9:00AM
Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) (“Aqua Metals” or the “Company”),
a pioneer in sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling, today
announced the successful completion of its groundbreaking 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. 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.
“Completing commissioning and moving into 24/5
operations at our Li AquaRefining Pilot is a tremendous milestone
for Aqua Metals and represents the future of sustainable lithium
battery recycling in the US and beyond,” said Ben Taecker, Chief
Engineering & Operations Officer at Aqua Metals. “Not only are
we demonstrating the scalability of our solution, but also our
significant advantages in recovery rates, emissions reductions, and
worker safety compared to current battery recycling
facilities.”
The Company has 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 off-take agreements for the recycled
materials. The Company expects that at current metals prices and
projected processing costs at scale, 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.
“As previously guided, the successful execution
of our rapid scaling strategy is a testament to the innovation and
adaptability of our entire engineering and operations team,” said
Steve Cotton, President & CEO of Aqua Metals. “The lessons
learned from our Pilot and improvements in our modular solution
reaffirm our confidence in our commercialization strategy. We have
secured more than 3,000 tons of black mass to fuel our operations,
enough supply to reach commercial scale in 2024. Aqua Metals
intends to capitalize on its first-mover advantage, driving US
leadership in sustainable battery recycling, and building a robust
domestic supply chain for the critical minerals that cleanly power
an electrified future.”
Earlier this year, Aqua Metals announced its
vision for the 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 a substantial
improvement over traditional pyrometallurgical and
hydrometallurgical recycling techniques, which produce much higher
emissions, lower recovery rates, and significant landfill waste.
The AquaRefining process vastly 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.
Additional Resources & Tour
VideoLearn more about Aqua Metals’ Li AquaRefining Pilot
and see a guided tour video at
www.aquametals.com/pilot-recycling-hub
About Aqua MetalsAqua Metals,
Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) is reinventing metals recycling with its
patented AquaRefining™ technology. The company is pioneering a
sustainable recycling solution for materials strategic to energy
storage and electric vehicle manufacturing supply chains.
AquaRefining™ is a low-emissions, closed-loop recycling technology
that replaces polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with
electricity-powered electroplating to recover valuable metals and
materials from spent batteries with higher purity, lower emissions,
and minimal waste. Aqua Metals is based in Reno, NV and operates
the first sustainable lithium battery recycling facility at the
company’s Innovation Center in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial
Center.
To learn more, please visit
www.aquametals.com
Aqua Metals Social MediaAqua
Metals has used, and intends to continue using, its investor
relations website (https://ir.aquametals.com), in addition to its
Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts at
https://twitter.com/AquaMetalsInc (@AquaMetalsInc),
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aqua-metals-limited and
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvxKNWcB69K0t7e337uQ8nQ
respectively, as means of disclosing material non-public
information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under
Regulation FD.
Safe HarborThis press release
contains forward-looking statements concerning Aqua Metals, Inc.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our
plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements
that contain words such as "expects," "contemplates,"
"anticipates," "plans," "intends," "believes", "estimates",
"potential" and variations of such words or similar expressions
that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes, or that
do not relate to historical matters. The forward-looking statements
in this press release include our ability to recycle lithium-ion
batteries and the expected benefits of recycling lithium-ion
batteries. Those forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially. Among those factors are: (1)
the risk that we may not be able to acquire the funding necessary
to develop our recently acquired five-acre campus; (2) the risk
that we may not be able to develop the recycling facility on the
five-acre campus within the expected time or at all; (3) even if we
are able to develop the recycling facility, the risk that we may
not achieve commercially scaled or viable recycling operations or
otherwise realize the expected benefits; (4) the risk that
licensees may refuse or be slow to adopt our AquaRefining process
as an alternative in spite of the perceived benefits of
AquaRefining; (5) the risk that we may not realize the expected
economic benefits from any licenses we may enter into; and (6)
those other risks disclosed in the section "Risk Factors" included
in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 4, 2023. Aqua
Metals cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake and
specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such
statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as
they occur, except as required by law.
Contact Information:
Investor RelationsBob Meyers & Rob FinkFNK
IR646-878-9204aqms@fnkir.com
MediaJennifer Johnson AvrilWarner
Communications917-982-9012jennifer@warnerpr.com
Source: Aqua Metals
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