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New process closes the loop on electric-vehicle battery recycling

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Current disposal methods for Tesla’s end-of-life batteries involves shipping them as hazardous waste to third parties for treatment (at least until their proposed Gigafactory comes on line):

– Kinsbursky Brothers in the United States shreds spent batteries to make a nickel- and cobalt-containing sludge. The sludge is sold on the open market to metal brokers and resellers, who in turn sell to small refiners around the world. These refiners process the material to make nickel and cobalt products.

“The economics, from a metal recovery standpoint, would be marginal because of the logistics, handling by multiple companies and the production of the lowest-value nickel and cobalt products (and not battery-grade cathode materials). In addition, no lithium would be recovered,” says Chow. “A tipping fee may have to get paid for recycling in order for the economics to work.”

– Umicore in Europe smelts the material in a furnace to make nickel and cobalt metal products. The issue here is that spent cathode materials are oxides, rather than sulphides that are typically mined, notes Chow.

“Oxide materials require a significant amount of energy to smelt in terms of a fossil fuel to be added, whereas sulphides do not. As such, a large amount of energy is required to smelt spent batteries, making the economics marginal and heavily dependent on the amount of nickel and cobalt that can be recovered and market prices,” he says. “Lithium is not recovered with this technique either, and a low-value nickel and cobalt product is made instead of high-value battery-grade cathode material.”

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Over the past decade the electric vehicle market in North America has grown dramatically, thanks in part to the increasing interest in fuel efficiency. But while many people espouse the environmental benefits of electric vehicles (EVs), there remains a significant bump in the road: the ever-growing pile of spent lithium-ion batteries that are deemed hazardous waste.

According to a report from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), the number of EV batteries at their end of life is projected to grow from 272,000 in 2015 to an astonishing 850,000 in 2025. By 2030, that number is expected to reach almost 1.5 million. That represents a very big disposal problem.

Until recently, the only recycling options for these batteries have been shredding or smelting, neither of which come close to reclaiming the majority of materials that make up the battery cathode. The remaining materials typically end up in storage or a landfill.

However, there is a new participant turning heads in the EV battery-recycling arena. American Manganese Inc. (TSX.V: AMY) (PINKS: AMYZF) (FRANKFURT: 2AM) recently filed a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its innovative process to recover cathode materials from spent lithium-ion EV batteries.

The application covers a method to recycle 100 per cent of cathode materials containing any combination of nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum and lithium. A high-value cathode material is reformulated in the process that has proven suitable for direct upcycling into new lithium-ion batteries.

So sure is it of the viability of its process that American Manganese (AMI) has put its mining exploration activities in Arizona and northern British Columbia on hold for the time being.

“We have put our focus on recycling, or what we call the mining of batteries,” says company president and chief executive officer Larry Reaugh.

Investors are taking note. “Since our refocus on lithium-ion battery recycling technology, the company traded an astounding quarter of a billion shares in just four months and has increased market capital by 25 times since the beginning of this year. Clearly we have hit on a popular concept that is very marketable,” says Reaugh.

The new hydrometallurgical battery recycling process originated from a patented technology AMI developed a few years ago to produce quality electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) from low-grade ores.

“When we took a second look, it became clear that the technology could also be applied to EV batteries,” Reaugh says. A successful proof of concept testing program was completed earlier this year with Kemetco Research Inc. (KMI), one of Canada’s largest research companies.

“The key to the technology is a processing loop that deals with the reagent by-products, water recycling in an energy efficient manner, and maximizing recovery of cathode material which could not be achieved in a single pass,” says Norman Chow, president and CEO of KMI. “The process eliminates the need for heat and furnaces, as the recovery of the metals take place at ambient temperatures. The result is a cleaner, environmentally sustainable recycling alternative to current disposal methods.”

With its new technology, AMI is looking to develop a recycling industry that will give waste batteries a useful afterlife. In doing so, there is the possibility of reclassification from hazardous waste to a traded product under the harmonized system (HS) and, with it, reduced transportation costs, notes Reaugh.

An additional benefit of recycling is reducing impurities in cathode materials. When recovering lithium, cobalt and manganese from ore, mining operators must crush and grind it using steel balls, Chow says. This imparts tiny metal shards into the material that, in a small fraction of cases, can cause short circuits inside the battery — which may lead to over-heating or even fire and explosion.

As a result, “manufacturers must test each battery for up to four weeks before they are confident they can be sold. If even a single battery fails, the entire batch must be discarded,” he says. Avoiding these residues is a critical factor in battery safety. “AMI’s recycling process can be tailored to further improve the chemical purity of the cathode materials and help reduce incidences of in-battery shorts.”

What does the future hold?

The lithium-ion battery market for vehicles is expected to grow from $7.8 billion in 2015 to more than $30 billion by 2024, according to Navigant Research. At 25 per cent of cost, the cathode represents the most expensive component of a battery because it contains nickel, cobalt and lithium.

Meeting this increasing demand for materials could mean new mining operations, some in areas where jurisdictions are less concerned with environmental and human rights.

“On the other hand, these are high-priced commodities that can be recovered through recycling and bring returns as high as $3,000 per battery,” says Reaugh. “As a recycler, AMI has the potential to become a primary producer and help reduce the reliance on less-than-friendly jurisdictions in Africa, South America and elsewhere in the world.

“The lithium-ion battery is an amazing technology that has spawned growth in multiple industries and allowed consumers to have products and machines without wires. However, it is hard to say something is good for the environment when it ultimately ends up as waste or drives the need for more mines,” adds Reaugh.

“Being able to develop a recycling technology that truly closes the loop from end to end, while bringing economic returns, is a win-win on many levels.”

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Market One.