Metso has debuted an advanced sustainable battery black mass recycling process, which the company said complements its extensive battery minerals technology offering.
“With Metso’s technology, critical metals can be sustainably extracted from black mass and re-used in new battery production or in other applications. Recycling of black mass from batteries with Metso’s process can reduce up to 60% of embedded carbon compared to use of virgin materials,” said Don Simola, director, Battery Chemicals Technology at Metso.
The hydrometallurgical black mass recycling process enables the treatment of mechanically separated and shredded batteries for recovering battery raw materials like nickel, cobalt and lithium, as well as manganese and copper. The process is based on Metso’s proprietary VSF X Solvent extraction technology and complemented with OKTOP reactors, Larox PF filters, Dual Media and LSF filters, and thickeners and scrubbers.
The process flowsheet can be tailored according to feed materials and desired end products with a possible phased approach for adding equipment also for the recovery of less valuable materials.
“With the launch of the battery black mass recycling process, our offering for the battery minerals value chain covers 90% of the end-to-end production process,” said Mikko Rantaharju, vice president, Hydrometallurgy at Metso.
“We can provide sustainable technology and equipment for the entire lithium, nickel and cobalt production chain from the mine to battery materials and black mass recycling with project scopes ranging from equipment packages to plant deliveries. We can also support our customers in the design of the process with our comprehensive testing and research capabilities.”
Source: Metso