German company Duesenfeld said its new method for recycling lithium-ion batteries not only recycles more of the material and creates more useful materials, but it is also better for the environment.
The company said that its initial mechanical recycling process results in 72% of a battery's material being recycled, according to Recycling Today. An ensuing process increases that rate to 91%, and the resulting recycled material includes marketable metals, lithium, graphite, and electrolytes.
To achieve this, the company uses a low-temperature recycling method that also creates no toxic hydrogen fluoride. For each ton of lithium-ion batteries it recycles, Duesenfeld said its process saves 4.8 tons of carbon pollution over the standard melting process.
"Our focus is on recycling the batteries as completely as possible," the company said. "... With the environmentally friendly process from Duesenfeld, no CO2 is produced during mechanical recycling, no toxic filter materials have to be deposited."
Figuring out an efficient way to discard lithium-ion batteries has always been needed, but perhaps never more so than now, thanks to the growing number of electric vehicles on global roads.
Because of the huge amounts of power that EV batteries must store to propel a car for hundreds of miles, they are, well, huge. They often weigh in excess of 1,000 pounds — although researchers are working on technology to make them lighter.
EV sales continue to grow each year, a trend that shows little sign of stopping. The production capacity of lithium-ion batteries is expected to increase by nearly 75% between now and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. This makes efforts like Duesenfeld's all the more important.
The patented process begins with a deep discharge of the battery's power, which results in recovered electricity that can be used to power the recycling plant. It also removes any electrical risk posed during the rest of the processes.
From there, the company combines mechanical, thermodynamic, and hydrometallurgical processes to recycle batteries.
The resulting recycled materials aren't meant to be used for building purposes, such as road construction, but are considered "high-quality secondary raw materials" that are "battery quality."
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