{
  "node": {
    "id": "term:slag",
    "type": "Term",
    "label": "Slag",
    "properties": {
      "id": "slag",
      "name": "Slag",
      "section": "topic-recycling",
      "definition": "The molten layer of oxides that floats on the metal in a smelter, collecting aluminium, manganese, silicon and calcium, and lithium unless the process is designed to recover it. It is tapped separately and used in construction or, where it holds enough lithium, leached.",
      "related": [
        "smelting",
        "pyrometallurgy",
        "lithium-recovery",
        "flue-dust"
      ],
      "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/slag/",
      "mentions": [
        "manganese"
      ]
    }
  },
  "edges": [
    {
      "id": "edge:belongsTo/term:slag/topic:topic-recycling",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "topic:topic-recycling",
      "type": "belongsTo",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "edge:relatedTo/term:slag/term:smelting",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "term:smelting",
      "type": "relatedTo",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json",
        "meaning": "Related context; not a causal claim"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "edge:relatedTo/term:slag/term:pyrometallurgy",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "term:pyrometallurgy",
      "type": "relatedTo",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json",
        "meaning": "Related context; not a causal claim"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "edge:relatedTo/term:slag/term:lithium-recovery",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "term:lithium-recovery",
      "type": "relatedTo",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json",
        "meaning": "Related context; not a causal claim"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "edge:relatedTo/term:slag/term:flue-dust",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "term:flue-dust",
      "type": "relatedTo",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json",
        "meaning": "Related context; not a causal claim"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "edge:mentions/slag/manganese",
      "source": "term:slag",
      "target": "term:manganese",
      "type": "mentions",
      "properties": {
        "sourceFile": "terms.json",
        "method": "build_glossary.mention_index + mentions",
        "field": "definition",
        "meaning": "Text mention; not a causal claim"
      }
    }
  ],
  "neighbors": [
    {
      "id": "topic:topic-recycling",
      "type": "Topic",
      "label": "Recycling and end of life",
      "properties": {
        "id": "topic-recycling",
        "name": "Recycling and end of life",
        "lede": "What happens to a battery after its first life: reuse, and the recycling routes that recover its materials, step by step.",
        "context": "Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.",
        "example": "High mass recovery alone does not establish battery-grade purity or refining energy demand.",
        "lesson_url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/fundamentals/cell-production/",
        "lesson_label": "Open process context"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:smelting",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Smelting",
      "properties": {
        "id": "smelting",
        "name": "Smelting",
        "aka": [
          "alloy",
          "matte"
        ],
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Melting battery material in a furnace with fluxes so that cobalt, nickel and copper collect as a metal alloy or matte and the rest — lithium, aluminium, manganese — goes to the slag. The organic parts and graphite serve as fuel and reductant.",
        "related": [
          "pyrometallurgy",
          "lithium-recovery",
          "hydrometallurgy",
          "slag",
          "flue-dust"
        ],
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/smelting/",
        "mentions": [
          "graphite",
          "cobalt",
          "reducing-agent",
          "manganese"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:pyrometallurgy",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Pyrometallurgy",
      "properties": {
        "id": "pyrometallurgy",
        "name": "Pyrometallurgy",
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Recycling by smelting whole cells or modules in a furnace, which recovers nickel, cobalt and copper as an alloy but loses lithium, aluminium and graphite to the slag. It is robust to mixed feed and is often the first step before a hydrometallurgical finish.",
        "related": [
          "hydrometallurgy",
          "black-mass",
          "recycling",
          "smelting",
          "slag"
        ],
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/pyrometallurgy/",
        "mentions": [
          "graphite",
          "cobalt"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:lithium-recovery",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Lithium recovery",
      "properties": {
        "id": "lithium-recovery",
        "name": "Lithium recovery",
        "aka": [
          "early lithium extraction",
          "lithium-first recovery"
        ],
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Getting the lithium back, which smelting loses to slag and older hydrometallurgical flowsheets left until last at low yield. Newer routes take it out first — by roasting or carbonating black mass and washing out a lithium salt — before the other metals are leached.",
        "related": [
          "lithium-carbonate",
          "precipitation",
          "collection-target",
          "pyrometallurgy",
          "raffinate"
        ],
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/lithium-recovery/",
        "mentions": [
          "lithium-salt",
          "black-mass",
          "smelting",
          "slag"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:flue-dust",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Flue dust",
      "properties": {
        "id": "flue-dust",
        "name": "Flue dust",
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "The fine solids caught from a furnace's off-gas. When a chloride flux is added to a battery smelter, lithium evaporates as lithium chloride and is recovered from the flue dust instead of being lost to the slag.",
        "related": [
          "smelting",
          "slag",
          "lithium-recovery",
          "pyrometallurgy"
        ],
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/flue-dust/",
        "mentions": [
          "off-gas"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:manganese",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Manganese",
      "properties": {
        "id": "manganese",
        "name": "Manganese",
        "aka": [
          "manganese sulfate",
          "high-purity manganese sulfate",
          "HPMSM"
        ],
        "section": "topic-sustainability",
        "definition": "A cheap, abundant metal used in NMC, LMO and LMFP positive electrodes and in alkaline cells. Ore comes mostly from South Africa, Gabon and Australia, but about 95 % of battery-grade high-purity manganese sulfate was refined in China in 2024, which puts manganese on critical-raw-material lists despite plentiful reserves.",
        "related": [
          "nmc",
          "lmo",
          "lmfp",
          "critical-raw-materials",
          "cobalt",
          "nickel-sulfate"
        ],
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/manganese/",
        "mentions": []
      }
    }
  ]
}
