Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RHINOCEROS (Batteries reuse and direct production of high performances cathodic and anodic materials and other raw materials from batteries recycling using low cost and environmentally friendly technologies)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
There is an urgent need for battery materials in Europe. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) have proven to be a reliable solution, especially for the production of batteries for EVs, followed by stationary storage market and consumer electronics. By 2030, the global demand for LIBs is estimated to increase 14 times and the EU could account for 17%. As of 2030, the battery production in EU is expected to rise to 300 GWh/year.
According to an estimation from the Strategic research Agenda for batteries, the annual production of LIB will require high amounts of CRMs such as battery grade graphite, silicon, Class 1 high purity Ni, Co, Mn and Li. Europe is currently dependent on imports amid growing demand for materials required to produce LIBs. Moreover, the extraction process of such materials usually comes with an environmental impact. In 2020 the Strategic Research Agenda for batteries released the EU Commission’s vision for 2030, which places Europe as the first recycler of LIB raw materials.
The development of closed loops in CRMs is required to secure their supply for the EU battery market. It currently depends on imports for LIBs production, EU needs innovative technologies that will recycle not only CRMs, but also all cell components.
RHINOCEROS aims at developing, improving and demonstrating, in an industrially relevant environment, an economically and environmentally viable route for re-using, re-purposing, re-conditioning and recycling of EoL EVs and stationary batteries. RHINOCEROS will first develop a smart sorting and dismantling system enabling automated classification and dismantling of LIBs and reassembly of still working modules in new repurposed batteries for second life applications. When direct reuse of batteries is not possible, a circular recycling route of materials present in LIBs will be followed closing materials loops. This route targets the pre-treatment, refining and the recovery of recycled materials.
Through qualification by industrial end-users, RHINOCEROS will demonstrate the direct production of high performances cathodic and anodic materials and other raw materials at competitive costs from battery recycling.
According to an estimation from the Strategic research Agenda for batteries, the annual production of LIB will require high amounts of CRMs such as battery grade graphite, silicon, Class 1 high purity Ni, Co, Mn and Li. Europe is currently dependent on imports amid growing demand for materials required to produce LIBs. Moreover, the extraction process of such materials usually comes with an environmental impact. In 2020 the Strategic Research Agenda for batteries released the EU Commission’s vision for 2030, which places Europe as the first recycler of LIB raw materials.
The development of closed loops in CRMs is required to secure their supply for the EU battery market. It currently depends on imports for LIBs production, EU needs innovative technologies that will recycle not only CRMs, but also all cell components.
RHINOCEROS aims at developing, improving and demonstrating, in an industrially relevant environment, an economically and environmentally viable route for re-using, re-purposing, re-conditioning and recycling of EoL EVs and stationary batteries. RHINOCEROS will first develop a smart sorting and dismantling system enabling automated classification and dismantling of LIBs and reassembly of still working modules in new repurposed batteries for second life applications. When direct reuse of batteries is not possible, a circular recycling route of materials present in LIBs will be followed closing materials loops. This route targets the pre-treatment, refining and the recovery of recycled materials.
Through qualification by industrial end-users, RHINOCEROS will demonstrate the direct production of high performances cathodic and anodic materials and other raw materials at competitive costs from battery recycling.
The EoL batteries characterization/selection step was completed, resulting in a benchmark depository of 2nd life prone LIB. A database was generated with most of the existing EV batteries and the criteria for 2nd Life applications were defined. The manual dismantling method was developed based on hazard reduction. This method considers the architecture and battery construction aspects, and it is well-documented with videos for each stage.
For the automatized robotic solution, the digital repository has been successfully created with the necessary data to educate the adaptative cognitive agent that will be used to dismantle and disassemble, and it will use all information gathered before in the characterization and recognition steps.
On the BM generation there are two routes: thermomechanical and mechanical pre-treatment. In both cases, the BM purity and separation targets were achieved via process optimization. The reactive milling targets have been surpassed, converting more than 80% of the NMC to ferromagnetic phases using reducing agents.
Potentiostatic delithiation achieved its targets of Li extraction (>70% recovery), and current research focuses on increasing the purity of recovered Li salt. Solvometallurgical leaching for selective extraction of Ni, Co and Mn has advanced in the leaching yields for both types of BMs. Next steps to reach overall extraction targets consider additivation and process parameters optimization. GDEx shows promising results with synthetic streams, achieving the selective recovery targets and it is now moving on to real leachates.
A membrane-assisted electrochemical process is being developed to extract, concentrate, and recover Li as Li2CO3 from DES-based leachates. First tests were successfully performed with a 3-chamber cell system using the best commercial membranes, after previous evaluation and selection. First tests on synthetic leachates have been performed with Polymer Inclusion Membranes (PIMs) as an alternative to commercial membranes. Besides, new ionic liquids/DESs are being developed for inclusion in novel PIMs for electrochemical applications.
The progress in the sustainability assessment focuses on defining the goal and scope for the LCA, LCC and Social-LCA. A literature review was made for the most common methodological approaches that deal with batteries and metal recovery sustainability assessments. It was followed by the definition of the functional unit, system boundaries, allocation rules, data quality analysis, impact categories, economic indicators, and social topics. Additionally, an LCA Screening for a first set of preliminary results was performed and the data collection for the elaboration of the LCI has been initiated.
For the automatized robotic solution, the digital repository has been successfully created with the necessary data to educate the adaptative cognitive agent that will be used to dismantle and disassemble, and it will use all information gathered before in the characterization and recognition steps.
On the BM generation there are two routes: thermomechanical and mechanical pre-treatment. In both cases, the BM purity and separation targets were achieved via process optimization. The reactive milling targets have been surpassed, converting more than 80% of the NMC to ferromagnetic phases using reducing agents.
Potentiostatic delithiation achieved its targets of Li extraction (>70% recovery), and current research focuses on increasing the purity of recovered Li salt. Solvometallurgical leaching for selective extraction of Ni, Co and Mn has advanced in the leaching yields for both types of BMs. Next steps to reach overall extraction targets consider additivation and process parameters optimization. GDEx shows promising results with synthetic streams, achieving the selective recovery targets and it is now moving on to real leachates.
A membrane-assisted electrochemical process is being developed to extract, concentrate, and recover Li as Li2CO3 from DES-based leachates. First tests were successfully performed with a 3-chamber cell system using the best commercial membranes, after previous evaluation and selection. First tests on synthetic leachates have been performed with Polymer Inclusion Membranes (PIMs) as an alternative to commercial membranes. Besides, new ionic liquids/DESs are being developed for inclusion in novel PIMs for electrochemical applications.
The progress in the sustainability assessment focuses on defining the goal and scope for the LCA, LCC and Social-LCA. A literature review was made for the most common methodological approaches that deal with batteries and metal recovery sustainability assessments. It was followed by the definition of the functional unit, system boundaries, allocation rules, data quality analysis, impact categories, economic indicators, and social topics. Additionally, an LCA Screening for a first set of preliminary results was performed and the data collection for the elaboration of the LCI has been initiated.
The advances on fast characterization have been achieved with the UiA digital repository. This will enable a future cognitive agent to automatically update and generate new items in the repository and send primitive actions to the robotic battery dismantling process. A constant update is key for an automated adaptative solution. We expect to develop a robotic solution that will automate the current manual process while cutting processing time.
For the mechanical BM, sieving process was optimized to achieve target purity. While for the thermomechanical BM, the target purity has also been achieved via process optimization.
Reactive milling has surpassed its target, transforming NMC into ferromagnetic compounds for easier processing and Li extraction. Now the efforts are focused on reducing the contamination of obtained product.
The potentiostatic delithiation of BM has shown a success in extracting >70%. A scientific publication has been made with these results.
GDEx has demonstrated to be able to reach >90% recovery of Co, Ni and Mn from the parent matrix and it is crucial to apply these findings into real BM leachates which is currently ongoing.
The stakeholder analysis and engagement has been performed to be up-to-date and directly related to the project. It has delimited the companies that would have interest in the project and the C&D strategy needs to be followed so that the exploitation of the technologies being developed takes place.
For the mechanical BM, sieving process was optimized to achieve target purity. While for the thermomechanical BM, the target purity has also been achieved via process optimization.
Reactive milling has surpassed its target, transforming NMC into ferromagnetic compounds for easier processing and Li extraction. Now the efforts are focused on reducing the contamination of obtained product.
The potentiostatic delithiation of BM has shown a success in extracting >70%. A scientific publication has been made with these results.
GDEx has demonstrated to be able to reach >90% recovery of Co, Ni and Mn from the parent matrix and it is crucial to apply these findings into real BM leachates which is currently ongoing.
The stakeholder analysis and engagement has been performed to be up-to-date and directly related to the project. It has delimited the companies that would have interest in the project and the C&D strategy needs to be followed so that the exploitation of the technologies being developed takes place.