Breaking badteries - Exploring new paths to recover lithium
The efficient recovery of critical materials from lithium-ion battery recycling is a daunting challenge. The chemical composition, mineralogy, and structure of batteries is complex and battery metal recovery is often energy intensive. In many cases, the recycling process is a hot, so-called pyrometallurgical process, where lithium and graphite are lost.
The climate ambitions and regulations around the European Green Deal, such as the Critical Raw Materials Act and the Net-Zero Industry Act, lean heavily on electrification to decarbonize our economy. Batteries are a central technology in this push. We want more batteries and battery materials must come from responsible sources and from recycling. The EU sets forth renewed regulations for use and production of batteries in the EU. This regulation is yet to be released and should set out that by 2027 battery producers must report sourcing of all materials and by 2030 a minimum amount of materials must come from recycling. These targets are 12% recycled content for cobalt, 4% for lithium, and 4% for nickel. By 2030 these numbers should increase to 20% for cobalt, 10% for lithium, and 12% for nickel. The European Commission proposed these measures in Article 8 of COM/2020/789 final in December 2020 and they are currently under review. The figure below translates this data to demand for battery grade cobalt, lithium, and nickel from recycled sources.
From eight years (likely 2031/2032) after entry in force of the Battery Regulation, batteries for systems of 2 kWh and higher require to have a minimum amount of recycled content. These targets are sharpened 13 years after entry into force, likely 2036/2037. From possibly 2027, the content of batteries must be reported. For lithium in particular, this demand growth will tighten the market in Europe. The demand data in the image is based on the average of the low demand and high demand scenarios presented in the 2023 JRC foresight study JRC132889 and recycled content targets are updated using data from Procedure 2020/0353/COD.
These target may not sound like much, but the scale, the technological complexity, and the rate of change is enormous. Recycled content targets are the right direction for a more sustainable world and at the same time we need to ensure that these secondary materials are available and available in the form and quality needed for advanced battery production. This is not evident. We simply do not have the luxury to throw old batteries away or export them. These ambitions and trends make technological development in battery recycling so important.
The strong growth in demand for battery materials is evident. Combining this demand with recycled content requirements, challenges the market even more. The left graph in the image below shows lithium demand for batteries on the EU market, split by primary and recycled content in thousands of tons. The amount of recycled lithium looks small compared to overall demand, but is significant nevertheless. The recycled lithium market is very small. To make any comparison of expected recycled lithium demand, the right graph below shows the demand for recycled lithium compared to 2020 overall lithium demand. By around 2031, eight years after enactment of the Battery Regulation, we need an amount of battery grade recycled lithium that is over 60% of what is currently produced overall. After 13 years after the Regulations enters into force, around 2036, this demand grows to around 140%. This is steep growth of around 26% per year. In addition, the resulting lithium must be of the highest quality to be acceptable for battery production.
Strong growth in demand for primary and secondary (recycled) battery materials will challenge the market. Within seven years an amount of recycled lithium is needed that is around 40% of current overall supply. This foresight underlines the need for R&D and investment in lithium recycling.
The open access published work of Oleksandr Dolotko et al. (2023) reports on exciting new results of an innovative, simple, and energy efficient method to recover lithium from spent or scrapped lithium-ion batteries. The innovative technology is based on mechanochemistry, a process that induces chemical reactions between solid materials using mechanical forces. Aluminum is used as a reducing agent in the reaction, eliminating the need for corrosive leachates or high temperatures. The method achieves a recovery rate for lithium of up to 70% and can successfully recover lithium for all relevant cathode chemistries, including their mixture. This breakthrough technology provides an efficient and eco-friendly solution for lithium-ion battery recycling, contributing to environmental protection and resource conservation.
With the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage power batteries, the development of infrastructure and strategies for handling lithium-ion battery production scrap and End-of-Life recycling will become increasingly important. This new mechanochemical method provides a promising alternative to the current recycling technologies, which are associated with large energy consumption and the use of corrosive reagents that pose a risk to the environment.
Finally, you may ask, only 70% recovery? The EU sets even higher targets. A recovery of 70% is in fact a high recovery, especially for a mixed feedstock. This is why such research is so important. It is relatively simple, efficient, and can be used for real-life practical feedstocks.
Please find the open access article in Nature here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-023-00844-2
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