Battery manufacturers have special and demanding requirements for pneumatic conveying of metal powders in their manufacturing operations. Extremely fine particle size – even nanoparticles – are no problem to convey with venturi eductors.
There are a number of critical requirements in lithium-ion and EV Battery production for which conveying with venturi eductors are ideally suited:
- a) Simplicity of internals. to minimize contamination
- b) No leakage (blowback) of toxic metal powders or nanofilaments
- c) No maintenance, no moving parts
Fox eductors have been used at hundreds of global mineral processors and mines – from Australia to Norway, Asia and North America. They are installed handling hundreds of different minerals – materials such as graphite, cobalt, copper, nickel, spodumene, lithium hydroxide, lithium sulfate, etc.
Fox Eductors in Battery Recycling Processes
Fox eductors have been in use in battery recycling processes since the 1980s. Download our reprint of a 1992 article from Powder Handling and Processing to learn more.
Similar to the above example, current recycling processes for EV and li-ion batteries can produce both base metals and engineered precursors as well as cathode active materials. These all must be conveyed reliably, with no dust and no contamination. ‘Black mass’ – consisting of shredded and slightly granulated lithium-ion cell batteries – can be easily and reliably conveyed with no moving parts.
Recently, Fox eductors have been installed conveying E-waste from companies shredding circuit boards for reprocessing. See excerpt of Case Study 124 below or download the PDF.
These irregularly shaped chips with sharp corners and embedded electronic components are very difficult for rotary valve systems but straightforward to convey with venturi eductors. E-Waste can yield critical battery materials.
