In a press release, the company said that its technology was used by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to recover lithium phosphate with a purity of more than 99.9% from mixed metal dust from recycled lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

The recovered mineral was initially shipped to VSPC’s pilot plant in Brisbane. There, the company’s proprietary nanotechnology was used to synthesise lithium-ferro-phosphate cathode material with 100% recovery to final product achieved with precise control of composition and phase purity.

According to the firms involved in the project, using the new cathode material, VSPC created 2032 coin-cell LIBs and electrochemically tested them. The performance showed specific capacity 0.1C discharge >155 mAh/g and specific capacity 1C discharge >135mAh/g.

“The production of LIBs from recycled battery material represents a genuinely renewable pathway for the battery industry,” said Lithium Australia’s managing director, Adrian Griffin, in the media brief. “Recycling of this type meets the ethical, social and governance standards that the community expects. It also strengthens our capacity to deal with climate change by improving resource sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint of portable power.”