Redwood Materials - Optimizing Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Battery Recovery Technology to Reclaim Cobalt and Nickel from Industrial and Defense Waste Streams

To meet critical and growing defense and industry needs for energy storage over the coming decades and reduce risk of foreign reliance will require establishment and rapid growth of a competitive domestic supply chain for lithium-ion batteries. This supply chain and its participants, such as DLA customers, will require sustained access to battery materials, including metals such as nickel and cobalt, for which Redwood Materials expects global demand to outpace supply in the next 2-4 years. Reclamation and recycling of lithium-ion batteries from defense and industry waste streams will be a key part of this effort to establish and grow this supply chain. Towards this end, Redwood Materials will evaluate scientific, technical, and commercial feasibility to recycle batteries recovered from defense and domestic industrial waste streams, and extract and stockpile nickel and cobalt for the DLA. To evaluate overall feasibility of the proposal, Redwood Materials will complete the following sub-tasks: identify feedstock sources from domestic industrial and defense waste streams; determine typical make-up and quality of said feedstock; plan logistics to transport said feedstock to Redwood processing facilities; determine process to break down feedstock into recycling intermediates and extract nickel and cobalt for reuse by the DLA; assess commercial feasibility for Redwood Materials to perform these services at scale and with high-quality output. Redwood believes the need identified by DLA is significant both in terms of the potential size of the opportunity and the impact it can have on our domestic security of critical materials. The Redwood Materials team, led by Principal Investigator Jackson Switzer, is prepared to carry out a thorough and accurate feasibility analysis, with full support of Redwood’s industry-leading leadership team, facilities, and equipment. Feasibility will be evaluated with an eye towards rapid transition to production in support of DLA and its supply chains upon completion of Phases 1-2.