© Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have a new, particularly efficient Recycling Method developed for batteries. The process is said to be cost-effective, environmentally friendly and energy-saving.
Currently, batteries are mainly used nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum and Stahl recovered. The valuable lithium is still difficult to recycle. However, as part of its Green Deal, the EU provides that from 2030 at least 70 percent of lithium have to be recovered. This should already be possible with the KIT method.
© Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT
The special thing about this is not only the amount of lithium that is recycled, but also how this happens. The procedure comes without the usual corrosive chemicals, high temperatures and previous sorting of the materials.
Simple process for industry
To do this, the battery waste is ground up. Aluminum is called reducing agent used since it’s already in the cathode is available. It reacts with the rest of the material and becomes metallic composites with water-soluble lithium compounds. This is then dissolved in water and heated, which vaporizes the water again and allows lithium to be recovered. This can be done at ambient temperature and pressure and is therefore energy-efficient.
“The process is suitable for recovering lithium from cathode materials with different chemical compositions and is therefore suitable for many different commercially available lithium-ion batteries,” says the main author of the study Oleksandr Dolotko in a statement. Due to its simplicity, the method is also suitable for use in industry.
