Aquatech and Momentum Partner for Critical Mineral Refining

Aquatech and Momentum Technologies have entered into a strategic partnership to support U.S. production of high-purity battery materials and rare earth elements (REEs). The collaboration combines Momentum's proprietary Membrane Solvent Extraction (MSX) technology with Aquatech's process technology platform to deliver single-source refining solutions.

Context of the Cooperation
Building resilient domestic supply chains for critical minerals is increasingly essential to reduce national reliance on imported materials. High-purity refined products are required across industries such as transportation, power storage, medical devices, defense applications, and physical AI systems. However, executing this complex chemical refinement and separation process requires both highly differentiated separation capabilities and proven engineering delivery at an industrial scale.

To overcome these operational challenges, cooperation was established between Aquatech and Momentum Technologies. The partnership merges Momentum's patented chemical extraction methodology with Aquatech's extensive execution track record, engineering infrastructure, and digital licensing platforms. This joint approach enables a single, accountable process loop capable of taking diverse feedstocks from initial processing through to the finished, high-purity battery or magnet product.

Technical Solution and Responsibilities
The joint technical solution unifies advanced chemical separation techniques with large-scale industrial water and mineral processing architectures. Responsibilities are divided between the partners to align proprietary extraction science with complete process plant execution:

At a system level, the MSX technology functions by processing both primary and secondary feedstocks, including mined rare earth materials, lithium-ion battery black mass, magnet swarf, industrial waste streams, and mining byproducts. The combined platform integrates this modular membrane extraction process directly into Aquatech’s PEARL™ technology licensing platform. This platform manages performance parameters across complex process loops to refine and output battery-grade nickel, cobalt, and lithium compounds, as well as refined rare earth elements, while providing cost and schedule certainty.

Deployment or Implementation
The implementation strategy focuses on scaling the high-purity refining solution across the United States. Initial testing has already been executed at Momentum's demonstration plant, where the resulting battery-grade compounds were successfully validated by customers.

The next deployment phase involves scaling up these technologies into large-scale commercial facilities. The integrated systems will build upon Aquatech's existing industrial infrastructure footprint—which underpins over 100,000 tons per year of lithium and critical minerals processing capacity currently under execution—enabling seamless deployment and long-term project support across different geographies.

Edited by Romila DSilva, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.