With the transition from fossil fuels to electric energy picking up pace in the automotive industry, demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and their materials has rapidly increased. To fulfill the vision of a sustainable, circular economy, cost-effective and efficient methods for recycling Li-ion batteries will be needed. Currently, most Li-ion recycling methods focus on recovering metal components such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, while non-metallic components from the electrolyte material, including lithium salts, solvents and other additives, are rarely recycled and are ultimately lost. A research consortium including collaborators from Elyte Innovations GmbH, Technische Universitat Dresden (TU Dresden) and Fuchs Schmierstoffe GmbH are now working on a project to develop new separation methods to facilitate the recycling of Li-ion battery electrolyte materials.
The project is called Stoffliche Wiederverwertung von Elektrolyt-Leitsalzen und-Lösungsmitteln (Material Recycling of Electrolyte Salts and Solvents), or “SWELL” for short. The research effort will focus on the efficient separation of liquid and solid electrolyte components, which is necessary for effective recycling. The ability to recover electrolytes would increase the availability of a number of valuable resources and raw materials, including lithium, fluorine and phosphorus, which would ultimately reduce the cost and environmental impact of manufacturing new batteries to meet rising demand, explained team member Kai Schwedtann, Chair of Inorganic Molecular Chemistry at TU Dresden. To contribute to a circular economy, the method developed by the SWELL team should increase material recovery rates and make electrolyte recycling processes economically viable.
“By developing and evaluating such a method, we aim to improve access to battery materials in Europe and reduce the environmental footprint of LIBs. We can achieve these goals by providing secondary components from cost-efficient processes in the future,” said TU Dresden project manager Jan J. Weigand.
The SWELL project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection and led by Mirco Ruttert, head of public-funded projects at Elyte. The main components that will be the focus of the project are carbonate electrolyte solvents such as dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) and ethylene carbonate (EC), as well as the lithium salt lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) and its decomposition products.
According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicle sales in Europe increased from 1.4 million to 2.3 million from 2020 to 2021, with Europe having the second greatest number of sales after China. Additionally, climate regulations from the European Union adopted last month will require a 100% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from new cars and vans by 2035, making sustainable, accessible and affordable Li-ion batteries all the more necessary for the future.