Reference
Glossary
Battery recycling and battery metals terms, defined in plain language.
A to Z
Terms we use
Plain definitions for the materials, chemistries, processes and pricing terms you will see when selling battery material or buying refined battery metals.
A
- Assay
- A laboratory measurement of the metal content of a battery material. The assay sets how much nickel, cobalt, copper and lithium a lot contains, and so what it is worth.
B
- Battery grade
- Purity high enough for use in new battery cells. For lithium carbonate this generally means 99.5% or higher.
- Black mass
- The dark powder recovered after lithium-ion batteries are discharged, shredded and separated. It holds the valuable cathode and anode materials: nickel, cobalt, manganese, lithium and graphite. Selling black mass.
C
- Cathode (metal)
- A sheet of refined metal plated out by electrowinning. Cathode is the standard form in which nickel, cobalt and copper are traded on exchanges.
- Cathode active material
- The metal compound in a battery's positive electrode, such as NMC, NCA, LCO or LFP. It carries most of a battery's metal value.
- CIF
- Cost, insurance and freight. A price that includes delivery to the named port, such as lithium priced CIF China, Japan and Korea.
E
- Electrowinning
- Recovering metal from a purified solution with electric current, which plates the metal onto cathode sheets.
H
- Hydrometallurgy
- Refining metals with water-based chemistry at moderate temperatures, rather than melting them in a smelter.
L
- LCO
- Lithium cobalt oxide. A cobalt-rich chemistry used in phones, laptops and other consumer electronics. Consumer and portable batteries.
- Leaching
- Dissolving the metals in black mass into solution so they can be separated and refined.
- LFP
- Lithium iron phosphate. A chemistry with no nickel or cobalt, used in many EVs and energy storage systems.
- LME
- The London Metal Exchange, the main global exchange for industrial metals including nickel, copper and cobalt. How each metal is priced.
M
- Manufacturing scrap
- Off-spec cells, electrode trim, coated foil and slurry produced in battery factories. Selling manufacturing scrap.
N
- NCA
- Nickel cobalt aluminum oxide. A high-nickel chemistry used in some electric vehicles.
- NMC
- Nickel manganese cobalt oxide. A leading EV battery chemistry, made in several nickel-to-cobalt ratios such as NMC 622 and NMC 811. EV and storage batteries.
P
- Payable
- The share of a metal's market value paid for the metal contained in a material. Payables reflect chemistry, form, condition and logistics.
- Pretreatment
- The first stage of recycling: receiving, discharging, dismantling and shredding batteries before the material is refined.
S
- Solvent extraction
- Separating dissolved metals from one another with selective organic solvents, so each can be recovered at high purity.
- Spherical graphite
- Natural or recycled graphite shaped into rounded particles for use in battery anodes.
- Standard-grade cobalt
- Cobalt metal of at least 99.8% purity. Its price, for material in warehouse in Rotterdam, is the main cobalt index.