Researchers make unexpected discovery after working with scrap EV battery parts: 'Very promising results'

"With our metallurgical expertise and pioneering role, Aurubis has the potential to develop a circular solution for graphite."

Photo Credit: Aurubis AG

Two companies — the German metal supplier and recycler Aurubis AG and Australian battery materials and technology company Talga Group Ltd. — have teamed up to create a recycled graphite anode product from lithium-ion batteries, Recycling Today reported.

Initial tests of the products have led to "very promising results," Aurubis said. Aurubis uses a hydrometallurgical process to extract around 95% of valuable metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite from spent lithium-ion batteries.

Electric vehicles are, on balance, much more environmentally friendly than traditional cars, which run on gasoline, a nonrenewable resource that causes pollution and environmental degradation at every step of the process. This includes spewing tons of planet-overheating air pollution whenever the car is in use.

Electric vehicles, conversely, produce no air pollution while in use. However, the main drawback with EVs is that their batteries are made with these nonrenewable rare metals, the mining of which is harmful.

Therefore, it is extremely important for the industry and the planet that we develop methods to efficiently and effectively recycle the metals used in the batteries.

The leaders of the nascent battery recycling industry hope to eventually create a circular economy where no new metals need to be mined from the Earth.

"With recycled graphite, we are keeping crucial battery input material in the loop," Aurubis COO, Multimetal Recycling, Inge Hofkens said. "Partnering with Talga to close the loop for graphite from battery scrap enables us to further leverage our effective and patented battery recycling process. With our metallurgical expertise and pioneering role, Aurubis has the potential to develop a circular solution for graphite."

Scientists around the world are working hard to solve this problem, and whichever method of EV battery recycling ends up being the most effective, it will be a win for the entire planet.

At Rice University, researchers have had success with extracting valuable metals via flash-heating, while scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have proposed a solution that involves combining spent batteries into a large-scale energy storage system.

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