Battery Recycling Tests Using the Re-2Ox Process Begin

Battery-grade Cobalt Sulfate has been produced from a multi-element cobalt concentrate using the Re-2Ox process at SGS Canada to meet international battery specs.

Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. (TSXV: CCW) (OTC: CCWOF) (Frankfurt: 4T9B) (the “Company” or “Canada Silver Cobalt”) is pleased to announce a new battery recycling initiative using the proprietary hydrometallurgical Re-2Ox process.

Highlights

• The company has begun bench and pilot plant studies at SGS Canada for battery recycling using the Re-2Ox process, which is the only known hydrometallurgical process purposely designed and adaptable to recover and recycle metals from Lithium-ion, Nickel-hydride and Nickel-cadmium batteries.
• Core process chemistry of the Re-2Ox process is adaptable to rare earth metals recovery from Nickel- hydride batteries
• Battery-grade Cobalt Sulfate has been produced from a multi-element cobalt concentrate using the Re-2Ox process at SGS Canada to meet international battery specs.

The company has received electrodes of a commercial-grade nickel-cadmium battery at SGS Canada to begin initial scoping studies. Bench-scale testing followed by pilot plant studies will be undertaken. The same procedure will be used on all three battery types.

Recent data on global lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery sales compiled from 2016 highlight a discrepancy between sales of 500,000 tons, and recycling capacity of only 94,000 tons. If it were assumed that recycling capacity was exclusively dedicated to Li-ion batteries, that would only cover 19% of annual production volume. By 2024 the gap between recycling capacity and battery production is expected to widen with only 9% of 3,000,000 tons being covered by recycling capacity according to Propulsion Quebec.

The transition toward a circular economy requires “green” battery technologies, however, true sustainability can only be achieved with an efficient way to capture valuable materials in spent batteries and diverting them from landfills. Lithium-ion battery recycling typically begins with separation of the outer casing from the cells. The cathode and anode in the cell are together used to create a powder referred to as “black mass.” The resulting blend contains valuable minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite.

Canada Silver Cobalt will use a purely hydrometallurgical approach by employing Re-2Ox for selective leaching to enhance process recovery of metals. Recycling plants that use hydrometallurgy exclusively are rare and only one is known to exist in Europe; Canada Silver Cobalt will be the first in North America to use this method.