Master's student Yun Seon-jong of the Department of Resources and Energy Engineering, Environmental Geochemistry Laboratory (supervising professor Hwang Guk-hwa), and Master's student Jeong Hye-won of the Hydrometallurgy Laboratory (supervising professor An Jun-mo) each received the Excellence in Poster Presentation Award at the "Korean Resources Recycling Society 2023 Autumn General Meeting and the 59th Academic Conference."

At this conference, Yun Seon-jong was selected as an awardee for the presentation titled “Bioleaching of Li, Ni, Co, and Mn from spent lithium-ion batteries using indigenous microorganisms (국내 토착 미생물을 활용한 폐리튬이온배터리 양극재 대상 Li, Ni, Co, Mn의 바이오침출 연구),” and Jeong Hye-won was selected for the presentation titled “Study on the Effects of Leaching Factors to Apply Methanesulfonic Acid as an Alternative Leaching Agent to NCM Black Mass (NCM black mass 대상 대체침출제 메탄술폰산 적용을 위한 침출인자 영향확인 연구).”

The research by Yun Seon-jong assessed and analyzed the potential for microbial leaching of Li, Ni, Co, and Mn from spent lithium-ion batteries using indigenous bacteria.

Jeong Hye-won conducted a study to verify the applicability of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) as an alternative leaching agent for the leaching process targeting NCM black mass. The study compared MSA with the conventional leaching agent (sulfuric acid) and investigated the effects of leaching factors (leachant/reductant concentrations, leaching time, leaching temperature), earning recognition for its merits.

Yun Seon-jong stated, “I am grateful to my supervising professors, Professor Hwang Guk-hwa and Professor An Jun-mo, for their substantial help and support, and I thank the students who participated in the research. I will continue to strive to conduct even better research.”

Jeong Hye-won said, “I am grateful to my supervising professor, Professor An Jun-mo, for providing and guiding a research environment in which the work could proceed well. I also thank the laboratory students who participated in the research, and I will continue to work hard to produce many good studies together.”

Meanwhile, the research conducted by Yun Seon-jong was a collaborative study between the research groups of Professor Hwang Guk-hwa and Professor An Jun-mo, carried out with support from the National Institute of Biological Resources (Ministry of Environment). The research by Jeong Hye-won was conducted with funding from the government (Ministry of Science and ICT) and support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.