Research project for the holistic consideration of the material flow of lithium batteries

Research project for the holistic consideration of the material flow of lithium batteries - potential study and recycling concepts by means of thermal processes

Project description

Both demand and production of lithium batteries (LiB) are experiencing very strong growth in the wake of current developments in energy policy and mobility. In the future, the new EU battery regulation will require a recycled content for lithium, cobalt and nickel in new LiB. The current return volumes and recycling capacities for end-of-life LiB (EoL) are not sufficient to provide a sufficient amount of recyclates, especially for components such as lithium, due to the lack of economic pressure.

For the consideration of the material flows, two different projects are running in parallel at IAK in cooperation with the Stiftung Gemeinsames Rücknahmesystem Batterien (GRS). In the project: "Material flow and potential analysis", knowledge about the condition and final fate of EoL e-bike batteries is to be expanded on the basis of sample sorting. The aim is to use the results to develop a concept for the long-term financing and recycling strategy for EoL e-bike batteries.

The aim of the second project: "Thermal treatment of LFP and NMC batteries" is to optimize the thermal treatment of accumulators, which represents an important stage within the recycling of EoL batteries (see Sche-ma). Future legal requirements will also be taken into account. For this purpose, the influences of different electrochemical specifications (NMC and LFP) and process configurations, such as treatment temperature and residence time, on the generated black mass (solid combustion residue) during the thermal treatment of EoL-LiB are investigated on a laboratory scale. The laboratory results are used to optimize the thermal battery treatment in order to increase the efficiency of the subsequent recovery stages and the recycling of valuable materials.