Ternary NCM Precursor Solution Purification: Cutting Oil and TOC Without Activated Carbon or Resin

Ternary (NCM) precursor solution is a core raw material in the new energy industry chain, and its quality directly affects the performance of end products. The liquid often contains large amounts of oil and total organic carbon (TOC), and that combination poses a serious challenge in downstream processing: whatever removes the impurities must not disturb the ionic composition that gives the solution its value.

The Conventional Route and Its Four Costs

The widely used activated carbon and resin adsorption methods can partially remove impurities, but they increasingly fail to meet modern industrial requirements, and the failures cluster into four groups.

• High cost. The nature of the product solution requires coconut-shell activated carbon and special resins, and the bill for both keeps climbing.
• Hazardous waste. Spent activated carbon becomes hazardous waste that must be outsourced for disposal, adding operating cost on top of the consumables.
• Cumbersome operation. Activated carbon must be replaced frequently - every two days - requiring staffed attendance and troublesome handling.
• Safety risk. Resin regeneration uses ethanol, imposing high on-site safety requirements and entailing certain risks.

The CDOF Alternative

To address these difficulties, SINOKLE has developed a new process for deoiling and purifying ternary precursor solution based on its proprietary patented technology - the ozone flotation integrated system (CDOF). The unit combines ozone catalytic oxidation, hydrocyclone separation and flotation deoiling with a self-developed modified heterogeneous ozone catalyst. The catalyst has excellent adsorption and catalytic oxidation capacity for oil and TOC, efficiently removing oil and reducing TOC without altering the ionic composition of the solution or affecting its purity.

What the Unit Delivers

Several characteristics define the technology in practice:

• Multiple technologies combined. CDOF integrates ozone catalytic oxidation, hydrocyclone separation and flotation deoiling - a domestic first and internationally leading.
• Efficient and low-consumption. High ozone utilization efficiency and low energy consumption put the operating cost at only 1/3 to 1/2 of activated carbon or resin adsorption, with no hazardous waste generated.
• No secondary pollution. No chemical agents are added during treatment, so downstream processes are unaffected.
• Fast treatment. Short retention time and a compact footprint make the unit suitable for production of any scale.
• Safe and environmentally friendly. Closed pressurized operation produces no ozone leakage and does not affect on-site operations.
• Fully automatic operation. Intelligent control with remote guidance removes the need for staffed attendance and lowers labour costs.
• Acid-resistant catalyst. A new acid-resistant catalyst works under acidic conditions with no metal contamination.

Measured Performance on Real Solution

Experimental results show that the CDOF process keeps the oil content in the material stably below 2 ppm - including dissolved oil - with TOC removal efficiency exceeding 60%. Those are the two numbers the precursor line cares about, and both are met without the frequent media replacement that defines the adsorption route.

Side by Side With Adsorption

Compared with conventional activated carbon and resin adsorption processes, the differences stack up quickly. Treatment performance is better, especially for TOC. There is no frequent catalyst replacement, which greatly reduces hazardous waste generation and saves treatment costs. Operation is fully automatic and closed - simple to run, reliable and free of secondary pollution. Efficiency and energy savings hold, with high ozone utilization and low energy consumption at 1/3 to 1/2 of the adsorption operating cost. And closed pressurized operation eliminates the risk of ozone leakage, keeping on-site work safe.

On the strength of that combination, the CDOF technology has become the preferred solution for deoiling and TOC control in ternary precursor solution. It improves precursor solution quality while removing the consumables, the hazardous waste and the attendance requirements that came with the old route - a concrete step toward greener and more sustainable production across the new energy industry.

Why Ionic Neutrality Is the Real Design Constraint

The purification target in a precursor line is unlike ordinary wastewater duty. The solution carries nickel, cobalt and manganese in carefully controlled ratios; any treatment that strips metals, changes pH equilibrium or introduces foreign ions turns a purification step into a contamination event. This is why the process adds no chemical agents during treatment: the oxidation happens at the catalyst surface and in the bubble phase, targeting oil and organic carbon, while the ionic composition of the solution passes through untouched and its purity is preserved.

The acid-resistant catalyst matters for the same reason. Precursor solutions sit in acidic territory, and a conventional catalyst would leach metal into the product or lose activity within weeks. The modified heterogeneous ozone catalyst keeps working under acidic conditions with no metal contamination, so the unit holds its removal performance across the whole campaign rather than only on the first day after a media change.

Reading the Operating Cost Correctly

The 1/3 to 1/2 operating cost comparison deserves a careful reading, because the saving is not one item but a stack. There is no coconut-shell carbon to buy and no special resin to regenerate with ethanol. There is no spent media classified as hazardous waste and hauled out under manifest. There is no two-day replacement cycle pulling operators off other duties. What remains is ozone generation power and routine inspection - and because ozone utilization efficiency is high, the power term stays modest. When plants run that arithmetic across a year of production, the consumables line alone usually justifies the switch, before counting the safety exposure removed with the ethanol regeneration step.