By Delta Innovation Center
Battery-Grade Manganese Sulfate from Low-Grade Ore
Develop and pilot a purification route that converts low-grade manganese ore into battery-grade manganese sulfate.
0 participants competing
Overview
Available manganese ores are low grade and contain iron, silica, calcium, magnesium, and heavy-metal impurities. The current processing route produces technical-grade material but cannot consistently reduce impurities to the parts-per-million levels required for battery applications. Existing acid leaching and simple precipitation circuits lack the selective purification stages and controlled crystallization needed to produce battery-grade manganese sulfate with acceptable recovery. The challenge is to develop and pilot a complete route from low-grade ore to battery-grade manganese sulfate, including selective impurity removal, crystallization, product certification, reagent and water management, and a defensible technical-economic assessment.
Ideal Participants
Eligible applicants include mineral-processing, hydrometallurgy, and chemical-engineering teams with experience in selective purification and crystallization, access to pilot facilities and analytical methods such as ICP and XRD, and the ability to manage acidic effluent and certify product quality.
Rules
By submitting a proposal, the applicant accepts the requirement to verify manganese recovery, battery-grade product quality, impurity limits, process repeatability, acidic-effluent treatment, and pilot-scale material balance. Final product specifications, acceptance criteria, commercial terms, and intellectual-property allocation require an approved contract.
Payment Milestones
A 10,000,000,000 T payment pool will be released across milestones, unlocked after each stage is completed and approved.
Mobilization and approved technical plan
2,000,000,000 T
Generated non-binding planning phase based on the workbook maximum R&D budget.
Validated pilot milestone
4,000,000,000 T
Generated non-binding planning phase based on the workbook maximum R&D budget.
Final acceptance
4,000,000,000 T
Generated non-binding planning phase based on the workbook maximum R&D budget.
Resources & Datasets
Download technical specifications, sample datasets, and reference materials. Unlock by registering for the challenge.
Judges & Scoring
Review Scorecard, Submissions are evaluated across the following weighted criteria. Maximum total: 100 points.
Submission Requirements
- Pilot requirement: Yes, pilot implementation is mandatory.
- Legal requirements: Obtaining environmental processing permits, compliance with acidic wastewater and residue management regulations, conformity of product with standards acceptable to the buyer, and compliance with regulations for transportation and storage of chemicals.
- Unacceptable approaches: Use of corrosive and non-selective acids that dissolve impurities along with manganese; purification routes with very high reagent consumption or generation of hazardous waste without a management plan; and processes that achieve battery grade only with high-grade imported feed.
- Technical constraint: Ineffectiveness of conventional purification methods in reaching ppm level of impurities; difficulty in separating elements with chemical behavior similar to manganese (especially calcium and magnesium); limitation on acid consumption and need for its recovery; and requirement for precise control of temperature and pH in purification and crystallization stages.
- Evaluation method: Assessment of product purity and structure using ICP-OES/MS for impurities at ppm level and XRD for phase identification, along with moisture content and particle size distribution measurement; final acceptance test based on agreed technical specifications and, if possible, validation by a cathode consumer.
- Eligibility: Teams, companies and research centers with documented experience in the field of "Mineral Industries", ability to design and implement a pilot, provide HSE program, technical-economic analysis, and deliver reproducible documentation.
- Minimum acceptable output: Production of product with at least 98% purity at pilot scale along with valid analysis certificate, and submission of documented technical pathway to achieve battery-grade purity.
- Environmental requirements: Management and neutralization of acidic leaching wastewater and residue, safe disposal of separated heavy metal impurities as hazardous waste, reduction of water consumption and solution recycling, and full compliance of outputs with environmental regulations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have more questions? Our support team is always ready to help.
Location Tehran.Tehran
Presented by
Presented by Delta Innovation Center
Location Tehran.Tehran
Presented by
Presented by Delta Innovation Center