Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden reports a new method for recycling electric vehicle batteries. The process does not require expensive or harmful chemicals because the researchers used oxalic acid, an organic acid found in the plant kingdom.
The process can recover 100% of the aluminum and 98% of the lithium from electric vehicle batteries, according to the university. This also minimizes the loss of valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and manganese.
At Chalmers University’s Battery Recycling Laboratory, a team attempted to process black matter, a powdery mixture of important active materials in batteries, in oxalic acid. In particular, we were talking about the Volvo electric car battery. The note describes the process as “brewing coffee.” In fact, everything is much more complicated, since in order for the oxalic acid process to produce the desired effect, it is necessary to precisely select the temperature, concentration and duration. By the way, oxalic acid is found in plants such as rhubarb and spinach.
“Until now, no one has been able to find suitable conditions for separating such a large amount of lithium using oxalic acid and removing all the aluminum. Because all batteries contain aluminum, we need to be able to remove it without losing other metals.” says university chemistry, explains Leah Rouquette, a graduate student in the department.
In currently used hydrometallurgical processes, ferrous substances are dissolved in inorganic acids. “Impurities” such as aluminum and copper are then removed and active materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese and lithium are recovered, respectively.
However, the Swedish researchers note that even small amounts of remaining aluminum and copper require multiple purification steps, and each step in the process can result in lithium loss. Using the new method, the researchers reversed the order and reduced the lithium and aluminum first. This allows them to reduce wastage of precious metals needed to make new batteries.
The next step can also be compared to brewing coffee: while aluminum and lithium are in the liquid, the remaining metals remain in the “solid”. The next step in this process is to separate the aluminum and lithium. “Because these metals have very different properties, we don’t think it will be difficult to separate them. Our method is a promising new way to recycle batteries that is definitely worth exploring further,” Rouquette said.
”We need alternatives to inorganic chemicals. One of the biggest bottlenecks in today’s processes is the removal of residual materials such as aluminum. This is an innovative approach that can provide new alternatives to the waste management industry and help solve problems that are holding back growth,” said the department professor. Martina Petranikova However, she added that the method requires further research: “Since this method can be scaled up, we hope that it can be used in industry in the coming years.”
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