May 02, 2017 02:30:43 AM
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Oakland, California-based Aqua Metals Inc. has been selected as the winner of San Francisco Business Times’ Technology and Innovation Award 2017. The award is in honor of the company’s efforts in developing a revolutionary technology named AquaRefining- a leading-edge lead-acid battery recycling technology.

Incidentally, the San Francisco Business Times Technology and Innovation Award recognize the most dynamic, innovative entrepreneurs and companies in the Bay Area. The applicants for the award include private and public companies, ranging from startups to giants, headquartered in the Bay Area. The award is limited to the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin and the City of Palo Alto.

The award winners were chosen from a pool of applicants by reporters and editors of the San Francisco Business Times with input from an independent panel of advisors. According to the organization, winners will be honored at the awards distribution ceremony which is scheduled to be held on May 17th at San Francisco’s Julia Morgan Ballroom.

Stephen Clarke, chairman and CEO of Aqua Metals noted that the company is truly honored to be recognized by an esteemed local organization. The award will further boost the company’s efforts to unveil new innovations and solutions that would help to create positive impact on the society. Aqua Metals is highly privileged to be a part of the Bay Area community of innovators, Clarke added.

The company’s $29.6 million AquaRefinery battery recycling plant is spread over 125,000 square-feet building at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) in McCarran. Aqua Metals had announced first production of more than 99.99% pure lead using patent-pending ‘AquaRefining’ technology during October last year. The technology which ensures higher product yield and better product at minimized operation cost is said to eliminate toxic waste such as lead, dust, sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gases, in comparison with the traditional smelting process employed by many plants. The technology aims to eliminate the inefficiency, costs and toxic waste associated with conventional smelter-based recycling of lead acid batteries.

The collected batteries are initially fed into a machine, which separates them into liquid sulfuric acid and plastic casing. This is converted into pellets and recycled, using the closed-loop technology. The water-based, room temperature process also separates hard metallic lead alloy, melts them and turn into ingots. It produces pure lead paste from the recycled lead.

Aqua Metals Inc. had recently announced acquisition of UK-based Ebonex IPR Limited, which holds an extensive portfolio of patents in the field of advanced materials and manufacturing methods for advanced lead acid batteries. In addition, the company had signed a partnership deal with Johnson Controls-the world’s largest automotive battery manufacturer, whereby Johnson Controls became the first company to receive the license to use Aqua Metals’ technology for extracting pure lead from old battery plates. Also, it plans to scale up the operations at the Nevada plant and install the technology in a new smelter site in 2018, which in turn is expected to bring in hundreds of new jobs.

Aqua Metals, Inc. engages in the business of recycling lead.