Challenges:

Cobalt (Co) is a brittle, gray metal typically obtained as a byproduct of copper mining. Most cobalt comes from Zambia and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, adding supply risk as well as ethical questions regarding material sourcing. Recently, Indonesia has emerged as an alternative source. Cobalt’s primary uses are in super alloys, and as a cathode component in rechargeable batteries. Cobalt poses a challenge for recyclers, even as some producers move to low-cobalt or cobalt-free batteries. Like nickel, it must be removed for purified lithium production.

The incumbent approach is SX followed IX. However, the same issues that plague nickel removal reappear. The IX resin, while selective for divalent cations like Ni2+ and Co2+ over monovalent Li1+, requires large beds to handle the volume of these process flows, and gives no indication that is nearing or at capacity, necessitating multiple beds in series to maintain lithium purity. The resin is then either hauled offsite for regeneration/disposal or regenerated in place with acid. Either critical minerals leave the facility as waste or large quantities of corrosives are brought in and expended.

Solution:

Electramet’s targeted removal technology uses applied potential to extract cobalt and nickel from lithium purification streams. The result is a concentrate rich in the two metals, and a battery-grade final lithium product. The concentrate is a feedstock for cobalt and nickel hydroxide production, keeping these metals out of landfills, reducing the need for additional mining, and forming an additional, secure source of these critical minerals. ElectraMet’s operating costs are lower than a comparable IX system, with cost offsets possible through concentrate sales.

Benefits:

-Reliably delivering purity specifications with minimal product loss.
-Reducing your facility’s emissions footprint by eliminating treatment-adjacent shipments
-Selling Co/Ni concentrate is a verifiable mining offset that enhances supply security.

Challenges:

Nickel (Ni) is a hard, slightly golden metal primarily derived from sulfide ores. Most mining occurs in Russia, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, and New Caledonia. Most production goes into various alloys or plating applications, where it imparts corrosion resistance and luster. A smaller share goes into key chemical applications like hydrogenation catalysts. However, EV battery manufacturing is a growing demand driver for nickel. All of this industrial activity brings concerns about pollution with it, as plating baths, polishing steps, and rinses are potential sources of nickel discharge. Nickel is also a potential contaminant in lithium (Li) recovered from recycled lithium-ion batteries and must be removed for the produced lithium carbonate or hydroxide to achieve battery grade purity (99.5 wt%).

Removing nickel from lithium streams is typically done with solvent exchange (SX). But, as nickel content decreases, each SX step becomes less efficient. Most facilities will use a combination of SX and IX to achieve their purity specifications, leading to high costs for capital equipment, specialty IX resins, and boutique SX solvents, in addition to the environmental costs of hauling and disposing resin.

Solution:

ElectraMet forgoes costly exchangers to selectively target nickel in waste and process streams. Our systems can remove nickel to battery grade levels in lithium-rich streams without impacting the lithium content. They also treat nickel down to ppb levels for discharge compliance, while concentrating the recovered metal for reuse or sale. All of this process data is available live through ElectraLink, keeping your operators informed and your operation compliant.

Benefits:

-Full spectrum of treatment options ranging, from grams per liter to ppb.
-Significantly lower plant footprint and capital cost compared to SX-IX pairs.
-No hazardous chemicals to store, handle, or dispose.

Challenges:

Cadmium (Cd) is a soft, silver-colored metal primarily sourced from zinc ores. Three quarters of cadmium consumption goes toward producing nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries. The metal also finds a use in cadmium-telluride photovoltaic (PV) cells, which enjoy the fastest energy pay-back time of any available technology, and in a limited number of dye, plastic, and plating applications. However, concerns about the metal’s high toxicity abound, and have led to a push to replace cadmium where possible.

Cadmium readily dissolves in water, and from rinses, plating baths, and residues, it finds its way into water and food supplies, harming both humans and wildlife. It is also prevalent in EV battery black mass due to years of NiCd batteries being incorrectly disposed of. Minimizing cadmium discharge is critical, as is isolating it where it’s an impurity. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets its cadmium drinking water limit at 5 parts per billion (ppb). Chemical precipitation struggles at these concentrations and isn’t selective. Ion-exchange (IX) can selectively remove cadmium to these levels, but generates solid wastes that require specialized transport and disposal.

Solution:

ElectraMet’s electrochemical technology presents an alternative. Selective and scalable, our systems target cadmium in complex streams, achieving discharge or purity compliance. With electrical current as the primary input, trace cadmium is removed and concentrated for disposal. Live monitoring alerts you to upsets, and our engineering support is there to keep your system running and your process in specification.

Benefits:

-Worry-free compliance and specification assurance.
-No resin to dispose or IX tanks to house.
-Sequester toxic cadmium with minimal operator interaction.

Challenges:

Tin (Sn) is a soft, abundant metal, used since ancient times in a variety of alloys, such as bronze and pewter. Most tin comes from tin oxide mined in China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Today, it finds heavy use in solder, plating, chemicals, and pigments. In printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication, a layer of tin protects the printing pattern from the etchant solution. It’s used in plating due to its tendency to bind strongly to substrate metals and its ability to form a corrosion resistant layer of tin oxide (SnO2). However, this tendency makes operating a tin plating bath a challenging prospect. Tin sulfate (SnSO4) or tin methanesulfonate is dissolved in sulfuric acid or methanesulfonic acid to form Sn2+ ions. However, the tin gradually converts to Sn4+ and precipitates as solid tin oxide. These baths operate best in narrow ranges of dissolved tin concentrations, with spent baths (as well as rinse and drag-out water) representing a waste that must be neutralized and filtered prior to discharge.

Solution:

ElectraMet systems take a unique approach to tin waste streams, using electrochemistry to reduce the dissolved tin back to a metal product, rather than oxidizing it to a solid waste. By treating the tin-bearing water as soon as it is no longer needed for plating, minimal metal is lost to oxidation. With ElectraMet’s automated systems, operators no longer need to run and maintain filter equipment for tin oxide powders, as the tin is accumulated as pure metal. The metal is either left in the replaceable Electramet cartridges and recovered for later smelting, or recovered in hydrochloric acid and shipped to a processor to become a new tin compound.

Benefits:

· Minimizes operator time and involvement in handling plating bath waste
· Promotes the recovery and recycling of tin, as well as the ‘on-shoring’ of new tin products.

Challenges:

Lead (Pb) is a soft, dense, corrosion resistant metal. Historically, lead was a byproduct of silver mining, but it is directly mined today, with Australia, China, and The United States producing most of it. Lead is still used in applications such as radiation shielding, ballast, and batteries, but has been phased out of many historical uses due to growing recognition of its dangers, particularly in paints and plumbing. Lead is neurotoxic, with severe impacts on behavioral health and fertility. The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level goal of 0 ppb for lead, as there is no safe exposure level. Lead service lines and lead solders continue to present opportunities for contamination. Lead-acid battery manufacturers also face the unique challenge of trace amounts of lead in sulfuric acid streams.

IX or reverse osmosis (RO) can be used to remove lead from water. IX systems intended for lead may be overwhelmed by very hard water. RO uses a membrane that blocks virtually all dissolved substances from permeating through it, meaning these systems remove not only lead, but beneficial minerals too. They also waste substantial amounts of water and are susceptible to biofouling. For battery manufacturers, the material selection for IX and RO is limited depending on stream acidity.

Solution:

ElectraMet systems selectively remove lead in two ways: both as a metal and as a salt. By applying a small electric potential, dissolved lead is separated onto carbon electrodes. Only lead is targeted, allowing all other minerals and salts to pass through. All of the water that enters the system is treated, reducing waste.

Benefits:

· Exceptional depth of removal for worry-free discharge compliance.
· Greatly reduced water and energy consumption compared to RO membrane systems.
· Selectively targets lead ions in challenging waters where IX struggles.

Challenges:

Gold (Au) is a rare, yellow metal that is exceptionally unreactive. Most of the supply is mined in China, Russia, and Australia. Around 90% of new production gold is used for jewelry or bullion, with the remainder going towards industrial uses such as corrosion resistant electrical contacts. Most gold is obtained through the leaching of crushed ore with a solution of cyanide, then recovering the gold from the gold-cyanide complex with electrolysis or chlorine addition. Electrolysis generates the highest purity gold, required for electronics, but needs high concentrations of gold in the leachate run efficiently. This can make it economically non-viable to convert lower grade ore to high purity gold.

Other mining processes can generate byproduct streams containing gold and other precious metals, such as “anode slimes”. Typically sold off as a low-value precipitate, dissolved anode slimes represent millions of dollars in metal value, inaccessible with incumbent technology. Additionally, mining operations cause a substantial environmental impact. Exposed piles of sulfide ores generate massive quantities of acid-mine drainage. Cyanide leaching ponds have failed, releasing millions of gallons of toxic water. Advancements which can reduce the need for additional mining are critical.

Solution:

ElectraMet’s electrochemical cells are able to deliver species-specific metals recovery from concentrated and dilute streams. They are not only able to efficiently recover gold from low-grade leachate, but from the traces found in anode slimes. Our systems are designed to overcome the typical limitations of electrowinning and present a truly new offering to operators seeking additional revenues from their existing mines.

Benefits:

· Economically convert low-grade ore to high purity gold
· Access the true value of byproduct streams.
· Enhance revenues while offsetting additional mining operations.

Challenge:

Platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), iridium (Ir), osmium (Os), rhodium (Rh), and ruthenium (Ru) are all rare, unreactive metals with similar physical and chemical properties. They are grouped together as platinum group metals (PGMs). They have many uses: catalysts (particularly in automotive catalytic converters), jewelry, chemotherapy drugs, high temperature alloys, etc… Most of these metals are refined from the byproducts of nickel, gold, and copper mining, particularly, the anode slimes from electrochemical purification. These residues are concentrated in base metals, metalloids, and salts that make refining and separating the PGMs a long, energy intensive process. Some of these streams can contain up to 50,000 ppm of dissolved metals, with only 10 ppm of PGMs.

Solution:

ElectraMet systems allow operators to upend their PGM process flows by directly and selectively reducing dissolved PGMs from anode slimes. Precious metal is accumulated onto exchangeable cartridges, which can then be disassembled to recover PGM-loaded electrodes. Low concentrations and high flows aren’t an obstacle for ElectraMet, as we offer scalable systems and a suite of offerings for different concentration ranges.

Benefits:

· Simplify the recovery of value from PGM-bearing residues.
· Eliminate process steps while achieving equivalent or better recovery, with less operator time.
· Maintain full custody of your metals by requesting on-site disassembly for loaded cartridges.