BWM’s First Commercial-scale Blacksand™ Facility
BWM’s first commercial-scale Blacksand™ Facility, located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, will be operational in late 2024.
Bartlesville campus: 35 acres with 150,000 square feet of building space.
PROCESS
BWM’s commercially validated technology has the capability to safely discharge and process end-of-life consumer cells, modules, production scrap, and full EV packs all on one line. BWM’s BLACKSAND™ is a highly concentrated cobalt, nickel, and lithium mixed metal intermediate product optimized for the next step in refining. BWM’s BLACKSAND™ is dry, has low copper and aluminum content, and has had organics and impurities removed.
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i. Ability to process production scrap, EV batteries, and consumer batteries in one line.
ii. Option to shred entire packs.
iii. Testing and pack disassembly capabilities.
iv. Testing & grading:
End-of-life (EOL) state of health testing and grading for EV batteries at the pack and module level.
v. Accepts numerous li-ion battery chemistries (LCO, NCM, LMO, NCA, LFP) as well as Ni-MH.
Safety
CEO & Co-Founder Robert Kang presented “Safety First: Mitigating Hazards in Black Mass Production during Battery Recycling” at NAATBatt Lithium Battery Recycling Workshop VI in August 2023.
Our process, guided by Failure Mode and Effects Analysis and Hazard and Operability Studies, was designed with an obsession to detail for the safety of our own personnel and every person that touches our product down the supply chain.
BWM was proud to co-chair, with Call2Recycle, the development of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment guidance document on Electric Vehicle Battery Safe Handling & Storage in July 2023.
Testing
Prior to processing, BWM has the capability to test and grade end-of-life lithium-ion batteries at the pack and module level. Batteries viable for second-use applications are routed to reenter the supply chain.
BW Energy & Innovation, a subsidiary of Blue Whale Materials, offers full service battery testing and evaluation services including performance testing, abuse testing and certifications.