Aqua Metals Achieves Significant Improvements to its Sustainability Focused Battery Recycling Technology
December 28 2020 - 8:00AM
Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) (“Aqua Metals” or the “Company”),
which is reinventing lead recycling with its AquaRefining™
technology, announced it has completed its V1.25L electrolyzer
program on time and under budget, achieving lead production that is
100% greater compared to the V1.0 electrolyzer deployed at the
AquaRefinery during commercial production in 2018 and 2019. The
Company previously guided a 20% increase of throughput, yet the
V.125L electrolyzer surpassed that guidance by 500%. The V1.25L
program concluded with a multi-day 24/7 endurance run that ended on
December 24th.
These results should positively impact capital
and operating expenses for our future equipment supply and licensee
customers. The doubling of throughput results in a 50% reduction in
the number of electrolyzers needed for equivalent lead production.
V1.25L also has a lower build cost and reduced assembly time
compared to the V1.0 electrolyzer, which correlates to a 50%
decrease in capital expenditures for Aqua Metals equipment
installations. In addition, electrolyzer operating expenses have
been reduced by greater than 60% compared to the V1.0 electrolyzer,
with the combined impact of improvements in automation and
increased throughput. The current design has a single button start
and stop functionality with no manual interaction required during
operation, along with automated maintenance capability. The 60%
reduction in operating expenses and 50% reduction in capital
expenditures greatly exceeds the targets that were set in early
2020.
“We are very pleased with the results of the
V1.25L program which was completed on schedule and under budget,”
said Steve Cotton, President and CEO of Aqua Metals. “The results
give us the ability to communicate a greater value proposition to
future customers and should positively impact our economics of
equipment supply and licensing agreements. We chose to focus our
2020 efforts on product improvement in support of accelerating our
strategic shift to an equipment plus services supplier and a
licensor of our technology. We believe the improvements realized
with V1.25L position us quite well as product ready in the ongoing
discussions we’ve been having with recyclers all over the
globe.”
“I am extremely proud of the Aqua Metals team,”
Cotton added. “Our dedicated staff has performed beyond
expectations. The economic improvements to AquaRefining that we
achieved strengthens our position tremendously to help the lead
battery industry go greener and safer. Cleaner recycling makes lead
batteries a truly sustainable solution for an energy storage market
that is becoming an increasingly critical part of the
fast-developing sustainable energy-based economy.”
About Aqua Metals
Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) is reinventing
lead recycling with its patented AquaRefining™ technology. Unlike
smelting, AquaRefining is a room temperature, water-based process
that emits less pollution. The modular systems are intended to
allow the Company to vastly reduce environmental impact and scale
lead acid battery recycling production capacity by supplying
equipment, services and licensing the AquaRefining technology to
partners. This could help meet the growing demand for lead to power
new applications including stop/start automobile batteries which
complement the vehicle’s main battery, lead acid batteries which
are in electric vehicles, Internet data centers, alternative energy
applications including solar, wind, and grid scale storage. Aqua
Metals is based in McCarran, Nevada. To learn more, please visit
www.aquametals.com.
Aqua Metals has used, and intends to continue
using, its investor relations
website (https://ir.aquametals.com), in addition to its
Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts at
https://twitter.com/AquaMetalsInc (@AquaMatalsInc),
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aqua-metals-limited and
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvxKNWcB69K0t7e337uQ8nQ respectively,
as means of disclosing material non-public information and for
complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking
statements concerning Aqua Metals, Inc. Forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, our plans, objectives,
expectations and intentions and other statements that contain words
such as "expects," "contemplates," "anticipates," "plans,"
"intends," "believes", "estimates", "potential" and variations of
such words or similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future
events or outcomes, or that do not relate to historical matters.
The forward-looking statements in this press release include our
expectations for the benefits of the V1.25 electrolyzer; and the
future of lead acid battery recycling via traditional smelters.
Those forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially. Among those factors are: (1) the risk that we
may not realize the expected benefits from our V1.25 electrolyzer;
(2) the risk that our insurance recovery from our claims relating
to the November 2019 fire at our TRIC facility and proceeds from
the sale of legacy assets will not be sufficient to fund our
accelerated licensing strategy; (3) the risk that we may not be
able to satisfactorily demonstrate to potential licensees the
technical and commercial viability of our V1.25 electrolyzer and
AquaRefining process; (4) the risk that licensees may refuse or be
slow to adopt our AquaRefining process as an alternative to
smelting in spite of the perceived benefits of AquaRefining; (5)
the risk that we may not realize the expected economic benefits
from any licenses we may enter into; (6) the risk that we will have
to engage in additional sales of our equity securities in order to
fund our future operations; (7) the risk that further funding, by
any means, may not be available at all; (8) the fact that we have
not generated any significant revenue to date, thus subjecting us
to all of the risks inherent in an early-stage company; (9) the
risk that our patents and any other patents that may be issued may
be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented; (10) the risk that we
may not be able to successfully conclude our proposed joint
development agreement with Clarios or, if we do, realize the
expected benefits of such agreement; (11) changes in the federal,
state and foreign laws regulating the recycling of lead acid
batteries; (12) our ability to protect our proprietary technology,
trade secrets and know-how and (13) those other risks disclosed in
the section "Risk Factors" included in our Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q filed on October 22, 2020 and subsequent SEC filings. Aqua
Metals cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake, and
specifically disclaims any obligation, to update or revise such
statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as
they occur, except as required by law.
Contact: Glen Akselrod, Bristol Capital(905) 326-1888, Ext.
1glen@bristolir.com
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