The Volkswagen-led team will recycle EV batteries more than once

Recycling electric car (EV) batteries is no longer news, but recycling reusable batteries is a must.

Volkswagen Group And a number of other industrial and scientific companies are investigating the feasibility Multiple battery recycling.

Dubbed HVBatCycle Research Consortium, The team plans to spend three years researching and developing the “necessary processes” to scale this closed-loop battery recycling – or is it recyclable? – The process.

It will all be funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

The goal of the HVBatCycle project is to keep cathode metals, electrolytes and graphite permanently in a closed material cycle. This means that these devices will continue to be removed from the old battery and kept in the new battery.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Volkswagen AG says stopping the cycle is not as easy as it seems.

For an efficient, environmentally and economically sensitive recycling method, all processes need to be coordinated with each other to produce suitable-quality secondary materials.

The most obvious advantage of this closed-loop recycling method is that it reduces the need to mine earth materials needed to make new batteries.

The research consortium is apparently focusing on a mechanical-hydrometallurgical recycling process, which uses aqueous solutions to recover metals for ore and concentration.

In particular, the team will process what it calls “black mass,” which contains graphite and battery metals, water and chemical solvents.

Will investigate whether the separation of metal compounds is really necessary for the formation of new, high-performance cathode components.

Each single step in the closed-loop recycling process will be accompanied by an environmental and economic life cycle analysis.

The battery recycling project comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEA) reports an increase in the price of raw materials commonly used in batteries such as cobalt, lithium and nickel.

Batteries are the most expensive part of the EV, so the price increase is a natural conclusion.

For example, in May 2022, lithium prices were seven times higher than at the beginning of 2021. The “unprecedented” demand for EV batteries and the lack of structural investment in new supply capacity have been cited due to the increase in global sales. Reasons for driving.

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has caused further controversy as Russia supplies about 20 percent of the world’s ‘high-purity’ nickel.

More: EVs could become more expensive as product growth increases, energy agency warns