IMCRC funds Neometals to make synthetic zeolite

Materials company Neometals (ASX: NMT), the Innovative Manufacturing CRC (“IMCRC”) and Queensland University of Technology (“QUT”) are to collaborate to build a synthetic zeolite manufacturing plant.

IMCRC will provide $2.57 million for the collaborative research project which will produce zeolites from lithium refining waste.

Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as molecular sieves, commercial absorbents and catalysts in gas, water purification and other green chemistry applications.

The global market is worth US$13 billion a year.

Neometals and QUT, which will make in-kind contributions worth $730,000 to the new R&D effort, have already seen encouraging bench scale results, producing a range of zeolite products.

The two year programme will establish zeolite manufacturing at the university’s Banyo pilot plant, with first production in September, 2020.

Successful Pilot Project outcomes will drive a subsequent engineering
cost study.

Neometals has three core projects at advanced stages of evaluation:

# Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Project.

# Lithium Refinery Project

# The Barrambie Titanium and Vanadium Project in WA.

Picture: Neometals

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