Perceiving lithium batteries and digital waste as self-replenishing crucial mineral reserves, Canada-based Litus and Taiwan-based UWin Nanotech Co. have signed a memorandum of understanding geared toward combining their respective applied sciences to recycle lithium, cobalt, nickel, uncommon earth components, and different priceless supplies.
The partnership comes as governments and producers worldwide search new sources of crucial minerals to satisfy the rising demand from electrical autos, grid-scale vitality storage, AI knowledge facilities, and different high-tech purposes.
“End-of-life batteries are not waste, they are repositories of high-value materials,” mentioned Litus CEO Ghade Nafie.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Litus has developed nanomaterials that may selectively extract high-purity lithium from geological sources or recycled supplies.
The firm’s two applied sciences are:
• Litus LiNC, a one-step direct lithium extraction know-how designed to get well as much as 99.5% of lithium from brines with concentrations beforehand thought of uneconomic.
• ReLiGN, a next-generation recycling platform designed to get well battery-grade lithium from end-of-life batteries.
According to the corporate, the applied sciences supply excessive lithium selectivity whereas decreasing vitality consumption in comparison with typical restoration strategies.
“ReLiGN allows us to recover lithium at battery-grade specifications while helping OEMs, EV manufacturers, energy storage providers, and battery producers reduce waste and strengthen supply chain resilience,” Nafie mentioned.
Working alongside the identical strains, UWin Nanotech has developed environmentally pleasant chemical processes for extracting valuable metals, crucial minerals, and uncommon earth components from digital waste and spent lithium-ion batteries.
The Taiwan-based firm says its hydrometallurgical applied sciences present a cleaner different to conventional mining and refining strategies whereas recovering priceless supplies that will in any other case be discarded.
UWin’s recycling experience has been acknowledged by Apple, which licensed the corporate as a recycling provider in 2020.
Litus
Left to proper, Marie-Louise Hannan, from the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, Litus CEO Ghada Nafie, UWin Nanotech Chairman Henry Hsu, Tsu-Yu Chao, deputy normal director of the Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center on the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Litus and UWin Nanotech see the potential of merging their applied sciences into an built-in platform for recovering crucial minerals from batteries, e-waste, and different secondary feedstocks.
Under the MOU, the businesses will collaborate on:
• Expanding separation purposes to uncommon earth components and different priceless supplies.
• Optimizing materials efficiency for various feedstocks and recycling streams.
• Evaluating technical feasibility and business economics throughout a spread of fabric sources.
• Exchanging technical experience, operational knowledge, and know-how to evaluate business viability.
• Exploring future alternatives involving scale-up, licensing, distribution, and potential joint ventures.
“By combining Litus’ nanotechnology platforms with UWin’s hydrometallurgy technology expertise, we see strong potential to accelerate the development of scalable, circular critical mineral supply chains,” mentioned Nafie.
Author Bio
Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News
With greater than 18 years of masking mining, Shane is famend for his insights and in-depth evaluation of mining, mineral exploration, and know-how metals.