Recycling of Lithium from Secondary Raw Materials and Further

Project Information

RELiEF

Grant agreement ID: 101069789

DOI

10.3030/101069789

Project closed

EC signature date 8 June 2022

Start date 1 July 2022

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 6 003 240,75

EU contribution

€ 6 003 240,00

Coordinated by

AVESTA HOLDING
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RELiEF (Recycling of Lithium from Secondary Raw Materials and Further)

Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Lithium (Li) recovery from battery scrap has recently become the primary focus of recycling technology, while much attention and developments have been made in technology for other potential options of Li. Therefore, the goal is to extract lithium from secondary sources in order to reduce the amount of unrecovered lithium that is produced as waste, which is currently estimated to account for 27.33% of the world's productivity of lithium. Through the use of a continuous processing technique to yield battery materials, RELiEF proposes the demonstration of an integrated recycling facility specialized in the extraction of lithium from secondary raw materials.

The project proposed technology attempts to reduce waste lithium by over 70% by processing high-value, battery-grade material. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5, the closed-loop process for battery active material, and TRL 4, will demonstrate the efficiency of the integrated and continuous process up to the recovery of battery precursors (weekly production of 1.5 to 2.5 kg of battery-active materials is expected from this technique). In parallel, an innovative materials acquisition and processing business model will be developed, with a focus on social and environmental sustainability.

The expected results have an opportunity to considerably reduce the European Union's dependency on imported battery chemicals and raw materials. It is expected that the RELiEF will improve EU productivity in the battery storage value chain. The project demonstrates wide business contribution with its consortium of 12 partners, which includes six small and medium-sized enterprises (ABEE, EXT, EURICE, IST, PEG, TC), four non-profit research and technology organizations (IMNR, INEGI, ZSW, NOVA), two universities (LUT, ULB), and one associated industrial partner (LANX). This involvement, which involves the project's technology and impact-maximization aspects, is primarily provided by creative SMEs.The consortium combines fundamental research techniques, chemical processes, analytical skills, industrial technology development, and strong relationships with the EU's policymaking organizations, recycling, and battery industry.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The aim of the project is to develop a downstream Li recovery process from the secondary sources. In the context of the aim, the work packages were planned to define the technical steps of the Li recovery process. At WP2, the different types of materials (mine tailing, Li/Al alloy waste, battery wastewater and organic solution) from related partners were sent to partners. At WP3, the pre-processing step was conducted on solid materials. The purpose of this work package was to improve the leaching efficiency at WP4 by applying the roasting and supercritical CO2 to Li/Al alloy waste and conventional milling to mine tailing. The innovative pre-processing technique was applied to mine tailing to evaluate the effectiveness. In this technique, the process was set specifically to focus on breaking the bonds of Li in the minerals without losing material in a closed loop. In this way, two different innovative pre-processing techniques were applied to two solid materials. At WP4, the various leaching techniques were implemented to both untreated and pre-proceed solid materials to obtain Li containing leaching solutions. It was concluded from the results that the mine tailing and Li/Al alloy waste can be leached at high yield, and Li/Al alloy waste can be used without a pre-processing step as well as mine tailing. These results gave an advantage to process the demonstration from a economical point of view. At WP5, the battery wastewater and organic solution have been started to proceed by recovery techniques to define the high-yield and selective technique based on the solution’s properties. At the end of the WP5, the results will be compiled to achieve the process line regarding the input materials and also help the environmental, social assessments and business modelling at WP8. In this way, the circular loop will be created by evaluating all critical points of the Li recovery processes from the input material to the output material. The battery closed loop in WP6 is an another crutuial part of the project. The repair of the EoL LFP pouch cell cathode material will bring a creativity and innovation as well as the Li metal anode. The battery components will be tested by recovered Li compounds from the downstream process and the process circularity will be achieved at the end of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The first results that will be obtained are in line with the Description of Actions set up in RELiEF's Grant Agreement. As the projects finds itself in the proof-of-concept phase, the results will be described in the second reporting period.

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