King River firms up HPA battery processing technology

King River Resources has upped the ante in its quest to produce high purity aluminium precursor compounds to feed the flourishing lithium-ion battery industry. Using the company’s proprietary “ARC” processing technology, a second and third run of a newly commissioned laboratory scale pilot plant has now delivered a “Type 1” precursor aluminium salt going more than 99.999 per cent purity.

The new results add to a recent maiden run of the plant that churned out a 99.9995 per cent pure Type 1 precursor salt.

The Type 1 precursor consists of an aluminium salt of 5N purity, or 99.999 per cent pure, used in lithium-ion battery cathodes. It can also be decomposed through a calcination process to create a 99.99 per cent pure high-purity alumina, or “HPA”.

In recent times, new applications and technologies have created increased demand and market opportunities for HPA, including in electric vehicles where HPA is used to coat separators located between the cathode and anode in lithium-ion batteries. It is also used in iPhone facias and LED lighting.

King River is also looking to develop other high purity aluminium-based precursor products using its Type 1 precursor salt.

The company has engaged specialist scientific technology company, Source Certain International to commission the new pilot plant and to conduct the test work.

Management says Source Certain’s second run of the new plant, known as Campaign 2, was designed to replicate the process completed successfully in the maiden run, or Campaign 1.

The third run of the plant, Campaign 3, aimed to reduce water and energy consumption by modifying the process used in the first two campaigns.

Source Certain is now looking to confirm the results from Campaign 3 through a fourth run of the plant currently underway.

The ongoing test work forms part of King River’s definitive feasibility study that aims to leverage its proprietary ARC technology to produce high value aluminium Type 1 precursor salts for the lithium-ion battery industry being fuelled by electric vehicle uptake around the world.

Source Certain is continuing test work on King River’s Type 2 precursor compound for application in the manufacture of lithium-ion battery cathodes and in HPA.

The company also aims to generate Type 3 and Type 4 precursor salts for use in lithium-ion battery cathodes and for coating of lithium-ion battery electrodes. King River says the products could also potentially be applied to LED phosphors and in the electronics and optics industries.

Recent research by global financial services giant, JP Morgan concluded that electric vehicle penetration into total global vehicle sales could lift from three per cent in 2020 to about 27 per cent by the end of the decade.

Another research report commissioned by the Global Battery Alliance - an international collaboration between public and private organisations dedicated to ensuring sustainability in the battery value chain - projected that by 2030 global battery demand could rise by a factor of 19 from 2018 levels.

King River could find itself right in the mix of things if it continues to dish out products vital for the world-wide lithium-ion battery boom.

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