Resource Recycling Magazine: Well-funded battery recycling startup breaks ground

Well-funded battery recycling startup breaks ground

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

August 25, 2015

A company using a unique technology for extracting lead from lead-acid batteries has begun construction of a $30 million facility in Nevada.

Oakland, Calif.-based startup company Aqua Metals has broken ground on the recycling plant near Reno, Nev., the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

The company recycles lead from batteries through a proprietary process called "AquaRefining," which uses an electro-chemical process to produce lead from recovered batteries, according to the company's initial public offering (IPO) description. The company raised $33 million in its IPO.

The vast majority of recovered lead-acid batteries are those that come from automobiles.

"AquaRefining offers a significant reduction in production cost over smelting, which is the existing method of producing lead," according to the description. "We also believe that AquaRefining significantly reduces the environmental emissions, health concerns and the permitting, logistics and transport challenges associated with lead smelting."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided the company a $42.4 million guaranteed business loan, which the company used to buy land and build the facility, the Reno newspaper reports. A USDA spokeswoman said the company will use the water-based process to remove an estimated 88 tons of lead per day.

The company said it has the potential to locate multiple smaller recycling facilities closer to the sources of used lead-acid batteries, reducing costs.

"The modular nature of AquaRefining makes it possible to start lead production at a much smaller scale than is possible with smelters, thereby significantly reducing the investment risk associated with building a conventional smelter-based lead production facility," according to the company. "Our plan is to actively explore distributed recycling in the U.S. by establishing our own initial recycling operation near Reno, Nevada."

That facility, at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, is expected to begin operations in May 2016.

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