Lithium hydroxide produced via electrolysis

Today battery recycling processes are optimized for cobalt and nickel recovery. Almost no lithium is recovered today in the EU because it deemed not cost-effective compared with primary supply. Our technology allows the direct isolation of Lithium from Li-ion battery waste as pure lithium hydroxide. Learn about the underlying principle.

Wastewater containing lithium from the recycling facilitiy flows between the anode and our ceramic membrane. The positively charged lithium ions (Li+) are attracted by the negative cathode and move towards the membrane. The membrane also contains lithium inos, and as a result the lithium ions from the wastewater flow can hop from one localized point in the membrane to the next. By means of this "hopping mechanism" the membrane always releases exactly as many lithium ions on the cathode side as it receives on the anode side. At the same time, the water reacts with the electrons at the cathode to form hydrogen (H2) and hydroxide ions (OH-), which react with the lithium ions to form lithium hydroxide - the desired product.