BATTERY RECYCLING OFF-GAS TREATMENT
HF and acid gas scrubbers for battery recycling pilot plants
Skid-mounted quench and caustic scrubbing packages for black mass pyrolysis, shredding and hydrometallurgical lines. Sized from first principles against your off-gas, wet-tested in our factory and designed to scale with your plant.
✓Plug-in skids that arrive ready to connect
✓Pilot data carried straight into your commercial-scale design
✓Lead times that keep your funding milestones on track
Request a quote
Four fields to start. A process engineer will reply within 4 working hours to talk through your off-gas.
No obligation. Happy to sign your NDA first.
Every route through a lithium-ion battery makes acid gas
LiPF6 electrolyte breaks down into hydrogen fluoride the moment it meets heat or moisture. Leaching adds acid mist and its own gases. Whichever stage you are piloting, the off-gas has to be clean before it reaches the stack and your permit limit. Our battery recycling scrubbers are built around that: a quench for hot pyrolysis gas, then caustic scrubbing for HF and other acid gases from black mass shredding, pyrolysis and leaching.
Discharge and shredding
Cells opened under inert gas or liquid release electrolyte solvent vapour and HF as LiPF6 hydrolyses.
In the gas: HF, electrolyte solvents (DMC, EMC, EC), fine particulate
What we fit: Caustic packed tower, with ATEX zoned options where solvent vapour is present
Pyrolysis and thermal pre-treatment
Heating shred or black mass drives off binder and electrolyte, producing hot, corrosive, fluorine-rich off-gas.
In the gas: HF, POF3, PF5, fluorinated organics, CO
What we fit: Quench, caustic (NaOH) packed tower, mist eliminator and fan, downstream of your thermal oxidiser
Hydrometallurgical leaching
Leach, precipitation and solvent extraction tanks vent acid mist and reductant gases continuously.
In the gas: H2SO4 mist, SO2, NOx or HCl / Cl2 depending on your lixiviant
What we fit: Packed tower or multi-stage scrubber with pH and ORP dosing
Run the pilot now. Scale without redesigning.
Skid-mounted and plug-in
Scrubber, sump, dosing, fan and control panel on one frame. Wired, wet-tested and signed off in our factory, so on site it is ducting, power and water.
A clear path to scale
The pilot is logged and the design basis recorded, so your commercial plant is sized on measured performance, not assumptions. Same team, same calculations.
Lead times that fit funding milestones
We fabricate in-house, so the programme is ours to hold. Pilot skids typically delivered in 18 to 20 weeks from approved drawings.
From hot off-gas to clean discharge
Every package is sized to your duty. This is the train we most often supply behind a black mass pyrolysis furnace and thermal oxidiser.
Materials: polypropylene and PVDF vessels and packing. No glass or silica anywhere in the wetted path.
Controls: pH dosing to setpoint, liquor flow and level interlocks, BMS / PLC signals to your control system.
Honest scope: a caustic scrubber will not destroy solvent VOCs. We tell you where an oxidiser or carbon stage is needed.
Numbers you can put in a permit application
Every quote comes with a datasheet: inlet and predicted outlet concentrations, liquor consumption, bleed and pressure drop. Commissioning ends with a signed record of setpoints and readings.
We design to the regime your site answers to, including UK Environmental Permitting, French ICPE and German BImSchG / TA Luft.
The EU Batteries Regulation sets recovery targets for waste batteries. Pilots proving recovery today become the permitted plants of 2027 to 2031.
- Lithium: 50% recovery by end of 2027, 80% by end of 2031
- Cobalt, nickel, copper: 90% by end of 2027, 95% by end of 2031
- Recycling efficiency for lithium-based batteries: 65% by end of 2025
Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (EU Batteries Regulation)
From enquiry to a commissioned battery recycling scrubber
Send your duty
Four fields, plus any process data you have. NDA first if you need one.
Engineer reply in 4 hours
A process engineer, not a salesperson, comes back within 4 working hours and arranges a site survey if useful.
Sizing and quotation
Datasheet, general arrangement and price, in 10 working days.
Build, test, commission
Fabricated and wet-tested in the UK, delivered and commissioned on your site.
Questions engineers ask us
Will polypropylene stand up to HF?
Yes, within its temperature limit, which is why the quench comes first. Where temperatures or concentrations need it we use PVDF. Glass and silica-based packing are never used, because HF attacks them.
Do you deal with electrolyte solvent vapour?
A caustic scrubber removes the acid gases, not solvent VOCs. Where solvents are present we design around your thermal oxidiser or recommend the extra stage needed, and offer ATEX zoned equipment where the atmosphere requires it.
Can you work under our NDA?
Yes. Many battery recycling processes are proprietary. Send your NDA with your enquiry and we will sign it before any process data changes hands.
What happens to the spent liquor?
Liquor is bled under control to hold its strength. The datasheet gives you the bleed rate and composition so you can plan treatment or disposal of fluoride-bearing liquor from day one.
Do you supply outside the UK?
Yes, across the UK and Europe, including France, Germany, the Nordics and Benelux. Equipment is UKCA and CE marked.
Further reading: black mass processing off-gases, why HF needs its own scrubber design and venturi scrubbers for dust and acid mist.
Tell us what is coming off your process
Send the gas, the flow and the limit you have to meet. We will tell you what will work, and what it will not, before anyone talks about price.
Request a quote Engineer reply within 4 working hours · hello@caldera-technologies.com