Iondrive optimises lithium-ion battery processing plant

Source: https://mining.com.au/iondrive-optimises-lithium-ion-battery-processing-plant/
Written by: Richard Szabo

Iondrive (ASX:ION) is optimising its new lithium-ion battery processing plant in Australia instead of Germany.

The battery technology commercialisation group reveals its latest internal review found practical ways to lower construction costs, improve plant flexibility to recycle feedstocks, and enhance economic viability of commercial-scale processing.

Retaining pilot plant operations in Australia instead of in Germany will save money, avoid shipping delays, and offer greater operational control.

Plant wet commissioning is expected to occur in the last quarter of calendar 2026. This allows time to incorporate extra design and optimisation work that lowers pilot plant development costs and potentially improves battery recycling economics and fast-tracks rolling out the IONSolv solvent-based extraction platform across other recycling feedstocks.

Iondrive previously secured a $3.9 million federally funded Industry Growth Program grant that is expected to cover half of plant construction and operating costs.

The company also secured a €398,000 ($656,398) share of funding from a European battery recycling consortium, led by PEM RWTH Aachen University in Germany. The amount is spread over three years and predicted to collectively cover 60% of pilot plant operating costs.

“The revised timing reflects the work required to properly define the system ahead of execution, improving confidence and supporting a more efficient pathway to scale up,” CEO Lewis Utting says.

The company’s short-term focus will be to progress the pilot plant through a structured work program that supports execution in the last quarter of calendar 2026 and leads to larger-scale deployment opportunities.

It will also complete final engineering and design updates to the plant configuration as well as progress procurement, site readiness, and execution planning.

Engaging with government funding bodies and strategic partners will also be required to support deployment and scale-up activities.

Meanwhile, Kingston Process Metallurgy has completed a rare earth recovery program from end-of-life permanent magnet materials.

Under the supervision of ProProcess Engineering, Kingston confirmed consistent high extraction of neodymium, praseodymium, and other key magnet rare earths with the help of IONSolv deep eutectic solvent technology.

Results show strong rare earth extraction and encouraging progress toward a scalable extraction process, according to Iondrive. The process also improved iron rejection and feed preparation, which helps to produce saleable rare earth products and minimises rare earth losses to iron-bearing reject streams.

“We are achieving strong extraction of key rare earth elements and continue to refine the process, particularly around iron management and feed preparation, which are critical to maximising overall performance,” Utting says.

“We are progressing a modular processing model, where individual units operate as standalone production modules… [and] this approach is intended to enable capital-efficient deployment across multiple locations including the United States.”

Iondrive is a battery technology commercialisation group with assets in South Australia, South Korea, and the US.