About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Advances in Recycling and Environmental Technologies
|
| Presentation Title |
Overcoming Variability in Black Mass: A Statistical Approach to Representative Sampling |
| Author(s) |
Jake Harrison |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jake Harrison |
| Abstract Scope |
The black mass material produced from battery shredding is substantially non-homogeneous. The metals composition can have variances as high as 18% from sample to sample. It is vital to obtain a representative composition of the bulk material before processing to ascertain the efficiency of leaching involved in hydrometallurgy and thus, the recovery of critical metals in battery material. Current industry standard practice does not always account for the significant variation in black mass. Often, an insufficient amount of mass is analyzed from too few locations, resulting in an inaccurate reported composition of the bulk material. This study explores the quantity and location of samples taken from bulk black mass and their associated concentrations through extensive statistical analysis. Strategic sampling and robust acid digestion techniques provide an accurate, representative composition of the bulk material, thus developing a new analysis method that reduces variances to +/- 5% with a 95% confidence level. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |
| Keywords |
Hydrometallurgy, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Copper / Nickel / Cobalt |