Battery Recycling & Materials Recovery calculator

Material Assay Workload Calculator

Assays drive settlement value, process control, impurity decisions, and customer confidence for black mass, salts, metals, residues, and recovered fractions. This calculator helps quality and process teams plan sample preparation, digestion, ICP/XRF testing, moisture checks, and review workload.

What this calculator does

  • Estimate lab or quality hours needed for battery material assays from sample count, testing rate, and preparation allowance.
  • a battery recycler needs to schedule assay resources for incoming lots, black mass shipments, process trials, or recovered metal sales
  • Returns estimated lab or quality workload hours for the selected assay set.

Formula used

  • Base assay testing time = assay sample count ÷ assay testing rate
  • Required assay workload = base assay time × preparation and retest allowance factor

Inputs explained

  • Battery material assay samples: Use the count of black mass, feed, residue, solution, or recovered metal samples requiring analysis.
  • Assay testing rate: Use the lab's demonstrated rate for the method, sample prep, instrument queue, and reporting workflow.
  • Preparation and retest allowance: Add time for drying, splitting, digestion, duplicates, blanks, retests, data review, and certificate preparation.

How to use the result

  • Use it for lot release planning, black mass sales, process trials, impurity investigations, and customer certificate timing.
  • It does not set sampling plans, analytical methods, detection limits, or commercial settlement terms.

Common questions

  • Should duplicate samples be included? Include duplicates in the sample count if they are mandatory, or cover occasional duplicates in the allowance.
  • Can this include moisture testing? Yes, if moisture testing is part of the measured assay workflow or allowance.
  • What if samples use different methods? Run separate scenarios for ICP, XRF, moisture, impurity, or solution assays if their rates differ.
  • How can I use the result? Use it to schedule lab capacity, quote turnaround time, and prevent assay bottlenecks from delaying shipments.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.