Cathode Precursor Production Pilot Plant – Stage 2 (FBI CRC No. 031)

Project completed in two stages by Future Battery Industries CRC which receives allocation of MRIWA funds.

The Challenge

Developing and establishing technical and processing capabilities to manufacture nickel-rich cathode active material precursors at volumes sufficient and validate material quality.

The Solution

Successfully produced high-nickel NCM battery materials using locally sourced inputs.

NCM 622 exceeded commercial benchmark capacity.

Optimal synthesis conditions were established across NCM 622, 811, and 83.12.05 chemistries.

Downstream lithiation and electrochemical testing was completed at QUT.

Proposed Benefit to WA

The project demonstrated Western Australia’s technical readiness for domestic battery materials manufacturing by establishing Australia’s first integrated cathode precursor pilot plant, operated by Curtin University and CSIRO at Waterford

Some of the publicly available outputs from the projects are shown below:

PhD Candidates

Marc Henderson – The green processing of mixed chemistry “Black Mass” derived from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

Deepak Kumar – Computational fluid dynamic modelling of cathode precursor reactive precipitation process in a continuously stirred tank.

Master’s by Research Students

Jandre Nel – Nickel and cobalt recovery from alkaline glycine solutions using sulfide precipitation.

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/98750

John Pulgarin – Thermal pre-treatment techniques for extraction of nickel and cobalt from Western Australia saprolite ores.

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96384

Rachel Taylor –The impact of electrochemistry on the leaching of Ni from pentlandite in alkaline glycine solutions.

Presentations

Neda Ghaebipanah, CSIRO – Precursor Cathode Active Materials Pilot Processing and Opportunities

Publications

Henderson, M.S.; Beh, C.C.; Oraby, E.; Eksteen, J. Organic Acid Leaching of Black Mass with an LFP and NMC Mixed Chemistry. Recycling
2025, 10, 145. https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling10040145

Henderson, M.S.; Salces, A.M.; Rickard, W.D.A.; Fougerouse, D.; Rodríguez Medina, Á.J.; Oraby, E.A.; Beh, C.C.; Rudolph, M.; Vanderbruggen, A.; Eksteen, J. Evaluation of the Removal of PVDF Using ToF-SIMS: Comparing Dihydrolevoglucosenone and Pyrolysis as Pretreatments for Cathode Materials of Lithium-Ion Batteries. Recycling 2025, 10, 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling10020056