Steingart: Li-Cycle's realpolitik strategy targets commodity metal sulfates for cathode makers
Dan Steingart · The world of battery recycling · Apr 4, 2024 · at 21:05
Columbia University professor Dr. Dan Steingart explains the contrasting commercial philosophies among battery recyclers Redwood Materials, Ascend Elements, and Li-Cycle.
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“So life cycle is, is the real politic of the three. Life cycle is born from hatch DNA. Hatch has been making mining electro primary extraction, electro winning equipment for a very long time. And life cycle says the world wants sulfate metal sulfate, excuse me, as a commodity. And we should focus on the best possible processes to create the digesters To focus on the battery inputs as they are. So what I mean by real politic is they're not trying to necessarily disrupt the way the battery industry works, but rather make a product that the cathode manufacturers already know how to deal with, so they have the broadest possible customer base, and use their mining roots to digest the ore in a reasonable fashion, as I understand it, using a mixture of precipitation processes and solvent extraction.”
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