Award for new technology that boosts waste recovery
ILA member Gopher Resource has won a prestigious innovation award for a new process that recovers and recycles premium grade lead from waste.
The patent-pending technology behind the new process, known as SCRUM – or Slag Cleaning and Recovery of Useful Metals – makes maximum use of waste materials which would otherwise go unused.
The Minnesota-based firm was awarded the 2023 Battery Council International innovation award at the US lead battery industry’s convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
The company’s SCRUM process uses furnace fuming technology to separate lead and tin into a concentrated fume form with very high selectivity and efficiency. The innovative process separates 99 per cent of useful metals from lead blast furnace slags, producing LME-grade tin and lead bullion that can be refined and used in new batteries.
The company said the ability to recover metals from lead battery recycling slag in a safe, economically feasible way is an industry first.
“Gopher Resource is honoured to be recognized for an innovation that significantly advances our vision of becoming a zero-waste industry,” said Joe Grogan, Chief Technology Officer for Gopher Resource. “The SCRUM process not only reduces our solid waste stream up to 99 per cent, it pays for itself through waste valorization — an industry first and a key component of a circular economy.”
You can learn more about the Gopher Resource SCRUM Process here: watch this video.
Gopher Resource is a leading national environmental solutions provider whose core business is the safe recycling of lead batteries, followed by select household waste recycling. Through innovative facilities in Tampa, Florida, and Eagan, Minnesota, the company helps prevent over 26 million spent automotive, industrial and stationary batteries from going into landfills each year and ensures their reuse into valuable, new consumer products. For more information visit www.gopherresource.com.
