Detailed Microparticle Analyses Providing Process Relevant Chemical and Microtextural Insights into the Black Mass

Eramet uses a combination of physical and hydrometallurgical treatment to recycle lithium-ion batteries. Before hydrometallurgical processing, mechanical treatment is applied to recover the Black Mass which contains nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium as valuable elements as well as graphite, solvent, plastics, aluminium and copper. To evaluate the suitability for hydrometallurgical recycling, it is essential to analyse the Black Mass chemically but also with respect to size, shape and composition of particles in the Black Mass. The Black Mass of various battery recyclers was investigated by using a combination of SEM/QEMSCAN® analyses. This specific QEMSCAN® database contains 260 subgroups, which comprise major and minor chemical variations of phases. The database was created using millions of point analyses. Major observations are: (1) particles can be micro-texturally characterised and classified with respect to chemical element contents; (2) important textural and chemical particle variations exist in the Black Mass from several origins leading to different levels of quality; (3) elements deleterious to hydrometallurgical processing (i.g. Si, Ca, Ti, Al, Cu and others) are present in well liberated particles; (4) components can be quantified and cathodes active material compositions (LCO, different NMC, NCA, LFP, etc.) that are specific for each battery type can be identified; (5) simulation of further physical mineral processing can optimise Black Mass purity in valuable elements

Characterization of Weda Bay nickel laterite ore from Indonesia

International audienceThe association of fine grained MgeNi silicates with oxy-hydroxides in laterites and saprolites representschallenges for ore processing, in particular, in nickel enrichment. The Weda Bay nickel deposit in Indonesia is atypical example of these complex ores, where clays such as nontronites develop on polyphase serpentinite asprotolith. Thus, ores at Weda Bay have a very fine textured and complex mineralogy, which requires a comprehensivemineralogical identification through the use of a series of different types of analytical approaches (i.e.macroscopic and microscopic methods including SEM equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry(EDS), Raman spectroscopy, Infrared and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and QEMSCAN® mapping). Nickelrich saprolites were found to be principally composed of several types of MgeNi serpentines, quartz, clays(nontronite in particular) and little amounts of iron hydroxides. Besides, some parts of the deposit were characterizedby the development of nontronites at the interface between the saprolite and the limonite zone. Abovethis zone, the limonite zone is dominated by iron hydroxides as expected, which replace all earlier silicatesincluding serpentine, and contains a significant amount of nickel. The representative composite ore samplecontains several nickel bearers with variable nickel grade of 2 to 3%. Exceptionally richer phases such aspolygonal Fe (Ni)-rich serpentine were also found with nickel grade of 5 to 10%. Serpentine types as well asother newly formed silicates such as Fe-Mg-(Ni) smectites, are intimately mixed, preventing any mineral separation.Therefore, the only phases which can be separated are quartz and magnetite. This complicates theupgrading of nickel in Weda Bay laterite ore

Exploiting the repetitive fraction of the wheat genome for high-throughput single-nucleotide polymorphism discovery and Genotyping

International audienceTransposable elements (TEs) account for more than 80% of the wheat genome. Although they represent a major obstacle for genomic studies, TEs are also a source of polymorphism and consequently of molecular markers such as insertion site-based polymorphism (ISBP) markers. Insertion site-based polymorphisms have been found to be a great source of genome-specific single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genome. Here, we report on the development of a high-throughput SNP discovery approach based on sequence capture of ISBP markers. By applying this approach to the reference sequence of chromosome 3B from hexaploid wheat, we designed 39,077 SNPs that are evenly distributed along the chromosome. We demonstrate that these SNPs can be efficiently scored with the KASPar (Kompetitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction) genotyping technology. Finally, through genetic diversity and genome-wide association studies, we also demonstrate that ISBP-derived SNPs can be used in marker-assisted breeding programs