Korea Zinc Produces Eco-Friendly High-Purity Nickel Sulfate, a Key Battery Material

Selected as the Lead Company for Government Research Project
Aiming to Develop High-Purity Nickel Sulfate Manufacturing Process

Korea Zinc has partnered with domestic and international industry-academic-research institutions to develop technology for manufacturing eco-friendly high-purity nickel sulfate by combining recycled raw materials and low-carbon processes. High-purity nickel sulfate is a key material for secondary batteries, and successful development of this process is expected to respond to carbon regulations in major countries such as the United States and the EU (European Union) and contribute to the realization of a circular economy.

Before fully launching the project, a 'kick-off' meeting was held on the 30th of last month, organized by Korea Zinc and hosted by the Korea Battery Research Association (KORBA).
[Photo by Korea Zinc]

On the 4th, Korea Zinc announced that it has been selected as the lead organization for the project along with 10 industry-academic-research institutions in the '2024 Materials and Components Technology Development Project,' supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and is conducting full-scale research and development.

The project is titled "Development of Technology for Manufacturing High-Purity Nickel Raw Materials for Batteries Using Carbon Reduction Refining Processes from Low-Purity Nickel Oxide Ore and Recycled Resources." Of the total R&D budget of 23.98 billion KRW, the government supports 18.36 billion KRW. The research period extends until December 2028.

Conceptual diagram of the 2024 Materials and Components Technology Development Project. [Photo by Korea Zinc]

The background of this project is the recent strengthening of environmental regulations throughout the entire electric vehicle battery process. Existing nickel produced from high-grade sulfide minerals is facing increased development difficulty and related costs due to the depletion of available resources. Additionally, with the mandatory reporting of battery carbon footprints, carbon emission management in the supply chain has emerged as a key competitive factor. Therefore, the development of nickel refining and smelting technologies that replace carbon-intensive carbon reduction processes, which emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, has become urgent.

The project has three main goals. First, to manufacture nickel raw materials using hydrogen reduction technology from previously unused nickel oxide ore called "saprolite," then to produce high-purity nickel sulfate for secondary batteries from the hydrogen-reduced nickel. Lastly, to develop a recycling process that produces high-purity nickel sulfate for secondary batteries by utilizing recycled resources containing nickel.

A representative from Korea Zinc’s Technology Research Institute stated, "Through this project, we will open a new era of carbon emission reduction processes in the nickel refining sector, which currently generates large amounts of carbon dioxide. Through this, we will actively respond to carbon regulations in major countries and practice ESG management based on resource circulation to contribute to the circular economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.