Many people switching to electric cars do so to help the environment. This is because EVs do not produce exhausts that cause pollution or greenhouse gasses. However, since electric vehicles rely on batteries, they have to be handled properly when they get old not to pollute the environment. If you have heard about electric vehicle battery recycling, you might wonder what it is all about.
In this article, we will show you how electric car battery recycling is done.
How does battery recycling work?
Battery recycling aims to recover as many components or materials as possible to be used to make new batteries. This means the components such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese have to be separated.
While the actual chemical process involved in recycling EV batteries is complex and jealously guarded trade secrets by recycling firms, the basic steps are not complicated and are pretty the same everywhere.
The first step is to source the old batteries. When an EV battery cannot offer about 80 percent of its original energy storage capacity, it is time for it to be replaced. At this stage, the battery could be repurposed for energy storage systems or shipped to the recycling plant.
Some recycling firms have arrangements with EV makers to get their old batteries, while others have signed agreements to get scraps from EV battery makers. For example, Tesla sends some of its old batteries to Toxco in the US for recycling.
When the old batteries arrive at the recycling plant, they are pulverized. Batteries that do not have any charge are shredded directly. However, when there is a chance the batteries still have charges, they are frozen in liquid nitrogen and then pounded to pieces. The freezing step is vital so that the batteries do not react and cause a fire.
Once pulverized, the resulting pieces, known as ‘black mass,’ are separated into individual components. The recycling companies can use a hydrometallurgical method that uses sulphuric acid and water for the extraction or pyrometallurgical method, which uses high heat for the separation.
Researchers from the University of Leicester and University of Birmingham are investigating how to separate the battery cathode and anode using ultrasonic waves. This method does not require shredding the battery and could result in cost savings of 60 percent compared with virgin materials.
Recycling companies include Redwood Materials, Li-Cycle, Aceleron, ReCell Center, and Global Battery Alliance.
