PILOT RECYCLING HUB
In 2022, Aqua Metals began commissioning the world’s first sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling facility, located at the company’s Innovation Center in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Nevada.
Having previously demonstrated its patent-pending Li AquaRefining™ technology at bench scale, in December of 2022 the company initiated operations in a dedicated pilot recycling facility. Aqua Metals is actively recovering a suite of battery minerals from spent lithium-ion batteries using an innovative technology the company has pioneered to selectively electroplate valuable metals.
The Li AquaRefining Pilot is a closed-loop, low-temperature recycling system able to reclaim all the critical minerals in ‘black mass’—a ground up mixture of the metals in lithium batteries. Aqua Metals powers this efficient process using electricity (instead of polluting furnaces or intensive chemical processes) dramatically reducing the emissions and hazardous waste typical of battery recycling.
Aqua Metals Pilot Recycling Facility Timeline
We will continue to provide updates, photos, and videos as we ramp up operations at our pilot facility, achieve new milestones, and commence delivery of our clean recycled metals back into the lithium battery supply chain.
Latest Blog Posts: Pilot Facility
Pilot Facility Photo Gallery
AQUA METALS SOLVES THE MASSIVE LITHIUM-ION RECYCLING CHALLENGE
How our approach is different from other recycling solutions:
NO SMELTING
No furnace required, no greenhouse emissions
HIGHER %
Recovers a higher percentage
of metals in a higher
quality form
MINIMAL WASTE
Closed-loop process that
recycles chemicals
and water
HIGHER QUALITY
Produces higher quality
products at a lower
operating cost
