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Patent Application Filed
- Authorities and manufacturers worldwide are concerned with the growing problem of lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires
- FLC’s proprietary fire suppressant solution, developed for its LIB recycling circuit, quickly and efficiently puts out LIB fires
- To FLC’s knowledge, few effective solutions exist in the market today for LIB fires and none were developed specifically based on lithium chemistry
- Patent application has been filed by FCL to protect its technology
TORONTO, July 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Full Circle Lithium Corp. (“FCL” or the “Company”) (TSXV:FCLI), a USA-based lithium products manufacturer and recycler with a highly experienced and proven technical team and a fully permitted lithium processing plant in Georgia, has developed a proprietary agent for supressing and extinguishing lithium based fires (“FSS”). FCL has recently filed a U.S. patent application to protect its technology. Given that LIB-related fires have been difficult to contain with water or other conventional fire fighting tools, and have caused loss of life and extensive damage, fire fighting and safety authorities in the USA and around the world, as well as manufacturers, have been raising concerns as the LIB industry develops. There is a need in this industry for effective solutions to extinguish LIB fires, and prevent the release of hazardous chemicals, as the USA and world converts to electric powered transportation.
A crucial step towards developing LIBs and the devices they power - be it electric vehicles, scooters, power tools, computers or cellphones - is their safe operation and handling. LIBs contain, along with stored energy, potentially hazardous chemical constituents. As such there are dangers associated with the use of LIBs, including fire hazards. Other hazards include inadvertent or uncontrolled discharge of the remaining stored energy resulting in explosions and the release of toxic chemicals that may include flammable hydrogen gas and hydrogen fluoride.
If there is a defect, damage, or trauma to a LIB in an electric vehicle, scooter, or other LIB-powered device, the release of energy can be explosive and can initiate fires. Once started, the fire can consume other battery materials such as the electrolyte solution and battery separator, which also may oxidize and contribute to various simultaneous potentially harmful reactions within the LIB. Even if the initial fire is extinguished using conventional means, the LIB may reignite later, as there may be remaining energy contained and potentially ongoing reactions within the battery. Not only is the extinguishing of the initial fire important, but it is also crucial to contain and prevent future internal reactions and reignition of the LIB fire.
While the global fire fighting solution industry is an extremely large multi billion-dollar market, LIB focused fire solutions currently form a small but rapidly growing segment of that market given the exponential growth of lithium-ion batteries as well as the concern and understanding of this hazard. With its proprietary FSS, FCL hopes to play a leading role in this developing industry segment.
“It is known that a typical full size EV fire can take up to 40 times more water than a typical internal combustion engine car to put out a fire, and there is a serious risk that it reignites later on as water and other conventional fire fighting agents do not directly act on the causes of the LIB file” said Mr. Carlos Vicens, Founder, CEO & Director of FCL. “We are extremely excited that FCL’s proprietary FSS could be a critical solution in fighting such fires, not only for EVs but for the entire LIBs battery industry.”
The Company is taking important steps to create a clear technical development plan, including third-party expert product testing and certification in order to establish critical credibility of the product to authorities and the marketplace. In initial testing by the Company, its FSS quickly extinguished fires of LIB cells while utilizing minimal FSS solution, with no reignition of the fire.
“This is a prime example of FCL’s mission to use its deep knowledge of lithium chemistry to create value for the Company” mentioned Tom Currin, Founder and COO of FCL. “This invention arose from the process safety development work performed for our battery recycling business unit and reinforces our bottoms-up approach to understand the chemistry that underlies all our processes. While our technical team has many decades of lithium processing experience, it is still early days for FCL, and we have a lot of ideas and important developments ahead of us.”
FCL intends to fully protect the intellectual property rights associated with its business and technology assets. The Company will continue to protect its technology, inventions and improvements thereto that are commercially important to the development of its business using intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and trade secrets.
As a reminder, The FCL Demo Plant and FCL LEP technology are environmentally focused processes using minimal water and limited reagents. FCL is aligned with the sustainability and cost objectives of its customers, communities, and governmental infrastructure initiatives.
Full Circle Lithium Corp.
Carlos Vicens – CEO & Director
cvicens@fullcirclelithium.com
About Full Circle Lithium Corp.
With a fully permitted lithium processing plant in Georgia, USA and a complement of seasoned lithium experts, FCL is a lithium processor focused on lithium and battery materials reintegration to meet the demand for crucial battery-grade raw materials, utilizing proprietary technology and know-how. FCL is focused on three complementary battery material processing divisions: battery recycling from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, lithium mid-stream recycling from industrial and chemical feedstock, and lithium refinery from upstream feedstock. Additional information regarding FCL is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile and its website www.fullcirclelithium.com.
Cautionary Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation in the United States and Canada and which are based on the expectations, estimates and projections of management of the parties as of the date of this news release unless otherwise stated. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", “could”, "believe", "plans", "intends" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. More particularly, and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information concerning expectations on the viability, effectiveness, safety and any potential commercial production and commercialization related to the FSS which is at an early stage of development, on receiving patent protection for the FSS and related inventions and processes, the ability of FCL, a start-up venture, to continue raising capital, upgrading and refurbishing its plant, and sourcing feedstock for its business. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the uncertainties and risk factors related to the technical elements in a processing and refining business, loss of key technical and other staff, lithium price fluctuations, the FSS functioning as expected to meet safety requirements, related government regulations and potential client product specifications, and applicable environmental requirements and issues – see additional risks described in FCL’s public filings. Actual results, developments and timetables could vary significantly from the estimates presented. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. FCL disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law. Additionally, FCL undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of FCL, its financial or operating results or its securities.
