While Canadian interest in electric vehicles keeps growing – from 56,000 sales in 2019 to 184,578 in 2023 – the direct consequence is the increasing number of end-of-life batteries, posing significant battery recycling challenges, especially considering their non-biodegradableand toxic nature for theenvironment.
Additionally, experts have determined that with the current consumption of metals for battery cathodes, we could experience a supply deficit by the 2030s, justifying the need for recycling.
What are the existing solutions, and where are the R&D efforts focused?
Let’s explore 3 research fields in the following article.
Graphite Recycling
Naturally occurring in the form of crystalline carbon, graphite plays a critical role in the LIBs (Lithium-Ion Batteries) industry by enabling conductivity, enhancing performance, and increasing charge capacity. As the resource is limited, innovation efforts have focused on recycling graphite from existing batteries using hydrothermal and electrochemical methods to purify and recover its properties or to slow down its degradation.
Numerous challenges in graphite recycling remain, such as making the process more viable and limiting the risks of contamination with other battery substances.
In terms of market growth, the global graphite recycling market was valued at $45.3 million USD in 2021 and is projected to reach $110.2 million USD by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.3%.
Tesla has confirmed encouraging results with newly assembled battery cells made with recycled graphite, which is an important first step for the circular graphite economy and should further encourage its demand.
Electrolyte Recovery
Battery electrolytes, which transport positively charged ions between cathode and anode terminals, are made of solvents, salt, and additives. Recycling electrolytes helps recover important resources and, most importantly, prevents the harmful release of chemicals into the environment.
As electrolyte salt represents 2 to 3% of the electrolyte solution but 60% of the solution cost, it is a strategic part of the recycling process to mitigate costs. Several techniques have been tested to recycle electrolytes, including pyrolysis, centrifugation, and supercritical extraction methods, but these processes still require complex equipment and a lot of energy due to chemical instability.
Extraction of Black Mass
In lithium-ion battery recycling, black mass refers to the mixture of valuable metals from the cells, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminum. Here, R&D has been mainly conducted to recover these metals during the battery recycling process.
The process of recovering black mass involves battery disassembly, crushing and shredding, acid leaching, separation and filtration, and metal refining to meet purity standards. Scaling up these processes remains difficult, but they offer promising potential. Exciting actors, such as the Canadian leader Li-Cycle, are dedicated to creating safe and sustainable recycling solutions for metals from end-of-life batteries.
Key points
With ongoing research in the field, it is clear that the battery recycling industry has a bright future. From reusing cells to recovering their components, battery recycling is a vast area where R&D efforts are exponentially growing, as this could be one of the biggest challenges accompanying the electric vehicules transition.
