Advanced Battery Recycling

Advanced recycling of lithium-ion battery materials has potential to significantly reduce material costs. Current recycling technology is expensive and melts or dissolves batteries for valuable elements, leaving no potential for direct secondary material use for battery applications. These old technologies pursue elements such as cobalt or nickel and destroy valuable organic and inorganic materials. With little elemental value in electric-drive applications, recyclers require a fee for decommission, and dont produce secondary/recycled material. New recycling technology must reduce material costs for advanced batteries to help the industry gain long term market share. This SBIR Phase I project, Advanced Battery Recycling develops process conditions, recycled materials, and recycling of materials from mainstream, high-power lithium-ion battery chemistries. Solid state, soft-chemical methods can revitalize materials to maximize their value independently of the elemental value. As a new, soft-chemically based recycling procedure, Advanced Recycling offers an important innovation to reduce human impact, increase efficiency, and produce low cost battery grade secondary material. The objective of this project is to recycle a high-power lithium-ion battery cathode material and demonstrate (1) process efficiency and (2) use of reconditioned materials. Starting with spent batteries, the project recovers materials, examines utility, and develops methods for recondition based upon physical or chemical limiting issues. The anticipated result of this development is establishment of the most efficient process to recycle high performance battery materials. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: This Phase I project develops the most efficient and environmentally friendly recycling technology as the solution to the next generations significant environmental challenge. Todays battery recycling options inefficiently bury, burn, or dissolve spent batteries. Cost reduction and environmental sustainability are important needs for the development of electric vehicles. This project addresses these needs by demonstrating low-cost recycling with minimal environmental impact. The fully developed recycling process will be the basis for jobs fundamental to portable electronics and electrified vehicle markets. The innovation is based upon knowledge from battery life-limiting mechanisms coupled with green-chemical processing techniques. The research actively involves undergraduate researchers in the development and commercialization of energy efficient technologies.