Recycling electric car batteries...a new and effective method

Weather of Arabia - Recycling electric car batteries is one of the complex processes that prevents the development of the industry, in light of the great demand for raw materials for battery production, as researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have come up with a new and effective way to recycle metals from spent electric car batteries.

This method allows the recovery of 100% of the aluminum and 98% of the lithium found in electric car batteries, while reducing the loss of valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and manganese, according to information seen by the specialized energy platform, and the researchers explained that there is no need for expensive chemicals. Or harmful in the process, because they use oxalic acid, an organic acid that can be found in plants.

The study was conducted by researchers Leah Rockett, Martina Petranikova, and Natalia Vesely, from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Separating minerals without losing any element

A doctoral student in the university’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Leah Rocket, said:

“Until now, no one has been able to find exactly the right conditions to separate that much lithium using oxalic acid, while also removing all the aluminum.”

She added:

“Since all batteries contain aluminum, we need to be able to remove it without losing other metals.”

At the Battery Recycling Laboratory of Chalmers University, Rocket and head of research Martina Petranikova explain how the new method works. The laboratory exhausted the car's battery cells, their crushed contents; It takes the form of a finely ground black powder dissolved in a transparent liquid, which is oxalic acid.

Rocket produces both powder and liquid “in something reminiscent of a kitchen blender,” and although it sounds easy, the precise procedure is a unique scientific achievement, according to a press release issued by Chalmers University, seen by the energy platform, and by adjusting the temperature. With focus and time, the researchers came up with a wonderful new recipe for using oxalic acid, an environmentally friendly ingredient that can be found in plants.

Martina Petranikova, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers University, said:

“We need alternatives to inorganic chemicals.”

She explained that:

“One of the biggest hurdles in today’s operations is removing residual materials such as aluminum. This is an innovative method that can provide the recycling industry with new alternatives and help solve problems that hinder development.”

How to recycle electric car batteries

This water-based recycling method is called "hydrometallurgy," which usually involves dissolving all the metals in an electric car's battery cell in an inorganic acid; “Impurities” such as aluminum and copper are then removed, and finally, it is possible to separately recover precious metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese and lithium.

Although the amount of aluminum and copper remaining is small, it requires several purification steps, and each step in the process can cause loss of lithium. Using the new method, the researchers reverse the order, recovering the lithium and aluminum first, and thus, they can reduce the waste of precious metals needed to make new batteries. .

The researchers wrote in the study:

“While the aluminum and lithium end up in the liquid, the other metals remain in the (solids)... The next step in the process is to separate the aluminum and lithium.”

Rocket said:

"Since the metals have very different properties, we don't think it would be difficult to separate them. Our method is a promising new route for battery recycling, and one that is definitely worth further exploration."

For her part, Petranikova added:

“As this method can be scaled up, we hope it will be used in industry in the coming years.”

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Sources:

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