What the site does
Haldia is a port and petrochemical town on the Hooghly estuary, with long experience of chemical handling and bulk shipping. The refining works opened in the Haldia Industrial Growth Centre in 2020 to give eastern India a hydrometallurgical outlet close to both industrial reagent supply and port access, so black mass produced in the east does not have to cross the country to be refined.
With 15,000 TPA of capacity, the works receives black mass rather than packs, drawing feed from eastern collection yards, integrated campuses and registered third-party processors. It turns that feed into battery-grade salts, and its port location supports shipping those products to cathode and cell makers as well as receiving permitted intermediates for further refining. Assay results are shared with consignors before settlement is finalised.
What arrives at the gate
Feedstock at Haldia, West Bengal reflects its catchment and plant type. Every consignment is weighed, photographed and logged against the originating manifest before it enters the process area.
- Black mass from eastern and central Indian network sites
- Third-party black mass from registered processors
- Cathode and electrode scrap
- Permitted imported intermediates
The process, step by step
The 3 operating lines — black mass leaching, solvent extraction, battery-grade salt crystallisation — run the sequence below.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Feed assay & sampling | Incoming black mass is homogenised and assayed by ICP-OES for Li, Ni, Co, Mn, Cu, Al and fluoride before it is released to leach. |
| Sulphuric acid leaching | Two-stage leach at 60–85 °C with peroxide reductant dissolves cathode metals at 96–99% extraction efficiency. |
| Impurity removal | Iron, aluminium and copper are precipitated and filtered; graphite is recovered as a separate low-ash cake. |
| Solvent extraction trains | Sequential Co, Ni and Mn circuits with counter-current mixer-settlers deliver individual metal raffinates. |
| Crystallisation & drying | Nickel and cobalt sulphate hexahydrate plus lithium carbonate are crystallised to 99.5%+ battery grade and bagged under nitrogen. |
| Batch certification | Every batch ships with a certificate of analysis, mass balance and chain-of-custody record for EPR and IRA reporting. |
What sets the site apart
Chemical-port setting. Located in an industrial town already used to handling acids, reagents and bulk shipments safely.
Eastern refining outlet. Shortens the journey for black mass produced in eastern India.
Certified batch output. Refined salts ship with analysis certificates and mass balance records.
Where material goes next
Material that Haldia, West Bengal does not finish on site moves to the nearest specialist facility in the network, keeping transport distances and dwell times down.
| Facility | Role | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Indore — Pithampur Grading Plant | Cell Grading & Diagnostics | 1,279 km |
| Nagpur — Butibori Second-Life Works | Second-Life BESS Works | 956 km |
Field note