Refining black mass and secondary streams – Recovering Valuable Resources

Final destination black mass? Not with us. Our hydrometallurgical processes produce high-quality raw materials.

Black mass – a hazardous waste being generated by mechanical processing of batteries and accumulators – is often seen as final destination in recycling by many other service providers. Unlike others, we take a different approach. Nickelhütte Aue further refines black mass to recover high-quality raw materials. Additionally, we also recycle waste and secondary streams from facilities working in the field of mechanical battery treatment as well as production waste resulting from cell manufacturing.

Black mass is generated during the mechanical processing of batteries and accumulators and contains valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium. In this form, it cannot be used directly in cell production. Instead, it is needed to be further refined. While many recyclers simply resell black mass, we refine it in-house to produce high-quality raw materials.

Secondary streams are also generated in mechanical treatment processes as by-products, such as foil fractions and contaminated metal fractions. These materials still contain valuable metals, which we recover through further processing and feed back into the production cycle.

During the production of new battery cells, various types of waste containing valuable materials are generated. We process powders, foils, dusts, and slurries from this stage to produce new chemical compounds.

Initially, a thermal treatment is carried out to concentrate valuable materials followed by hydrometallurgical processing, which enables us to extract valuable metals from black mass and secondary streams to make them available for new battery production.

Although black mass and secondary streams may initially appear to be waste materials, they hold significant potential when being treated using the right expertise and technologies. Nickelhütte Aue’s possibilities enable the valuable materials to remain fully within the loop. Using in-house refining, we convert black mass and secondary streams directly into high-quality raw materials to be reused in battery production. This approach creates added value for our customers while simultaneously strengthening the European raw materials market. While other recyclers simply sell black mass abroad, we offer an all-inclusive, single-source solution that is both - efficient and sustainable. Only this meets the requirements of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and actively contributes to a responsible European circular economy.

Why is our company, Nickelhütte Aue, able to further process black mass and secondary streams that sets us apart from many other European recyclers? Our hydrometallurgical process as a key factor enables us to targeted extract valuable metals. By multiple leaching, purification, and crystallization steps, we produce high-purity nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium salts, that are fed back directly into the production cycle of Li-ion-batteries. This process has been established for centuries but is continuously enhanced and refined by our R&D department to increase efficiency, purity, and sustainability.

Why is this so important?

• Resource conservation: While returning recovered metals into the production cycle, we implement true closed-loop recycling and prevent their loss or export to countries outside the European Union.
• Supply Chain Due Diligence Act compliance: The entire process - from receipt of recoverable materials to new raw materials - takes place locally, under fair and safe conditions. This strengthens local supply chains and increases their resilience.
• Customer benefit: Companies benefit from a comprehensive, all-inclusive solution that fully refines black mass, secondary streams, and production waste, from strictly meeting safety standards, and from the return of recovered materials directly into the production cycle.