Recycling already considered in the development of new battery materials
Circular economy: challenges and future approaches for battery recycling


Date:
January 12, 2022
Source:
University of Mu"nster
Summary:
Enormous potential consists in the circular value chain of
batteries. A review article on battery recycling provides an
overview of the challenges of new material concepts for battery
recycling and 'Design for Recycling' as a promising approach of
a sustainable battery economy.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Enormous ecological and economic potential consists in the circular
value chain of batteries: The use of recycled materials not only reduces
the costs of raw materials, but also enables energy savings in battery production. A review article on battery recycling published in the
scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials provides an overview of
the challenges of new material concepts for battery recycling, "Design
for Recycling" as a promising approach of a sustainable battery economy
as well as regulations and new battery directive demands in the United
States, the European Union (EU) and China. "The dynamic development of
the battery market is also reflected in the materials used. A mix of
materials is often used as active materials, which complicates achieving
high recycling efficiencies and purities of the different raw materials," explains Dr Sascha Nowak, Head of Analytics and Environment Division at
MEET Battery Research Center of the University of Mu"nster. In addition, certain active materials such as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) have a lower intrinsic material value compared to lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM). The profitability of recycling such materials is therefore reduced.


========================================================================== According to the research team, one approach to overcome existing
and new challenges is the concept "Design for Recycling." It aims to standardise screw connections and conjunctions between modules or cells in order to facilitate an automated disassembly of the cells. Moreover, the approach includes the design of materials. For example, water-based binder systems for electrode materials are to be developed to reduce expensive, potentially toxic solvents during recycling. Another possibility is direct recycling. "In this process, active materials, mainly from the cathode,
are reactivated after use by relithiation for direct assembly in new cells
-- without a complete resynthesis of the materials having to take place,"
Jonas Neumann, PhD student at MEET Battery Research Center, explains.

These and other processes are regulated by laws for battery recycling
in some parts of the world. In the EU and China, battery producers
are financially and physically responsible for the recycling of their
batteries pursuant the "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)." In
addition, there are regulations for collection rates of used batteries, material recovery targets and labelling standards. The regulations in the United States are particularly focused on the recycling of nickel-cadmium
and lead-acid batteries. More comprehensive requirements including the recycling of lithium ion batteries are only valid in four states so far.

Detailed results on the development of battery recycling have
been published as a review article in the magazine Advanced Energy
Materialsby Dr Sascha Nowak und Jonas Neumann together with Prof. Dr
Martina Petranikova, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Industrial Material Recycling, Chalmers University of Technology, Dr
Marcel Meeus, Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative, Dr Jorge
D. Gamarra und Associate Prof. Dr Reza Younesi, Department of Chemistry --
The AAngstro"m Laboratory, Uppsala University, and Prof. Dr Martin Winter,
MEET Battery Research Center and Helmholtz Institute Mu"nster.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Mu"nster. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jonas Neumann, Martina Petranikova, Marcel Meeus, Jorge D. Gamarra,
Reza
Younesi, Martin Winter, Sascha Nowak. Recycling of Lithium‐Ion
Batteries--Current State of the Art, Circular Economy, and Next
Generation Recycling. Advanced Energy Materials, 2022; 2102917 DOI:
10.1002/aenm.202102917 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220112105655.htm
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