DOE funds national collab for batteries

As part of its Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, the Department of Energy announced the selection of eight projects to receive a combined $2 million to drive innovation in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation, recycling, and reuse for the future of clean energy.

Administered through the ReCell Center at Argonne National Laboratory, AMMTO will form cooperative research and development agreements between national labs and industry partners to perform research, development, and demonstration for lithium battery reclamation technologies.

A national collaboration of industry, academia, and national labs, the ReCell Center works to advance recycling technologies along the entire battery life cycle for current and future battery chemistries.

Envisioning a clean energy future powered by lithium-ion batteries, AMMTO collaborates with national labs such as Argonne, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

These institutes are a driving force behind innovation, from everyday gadgets like smartphones and laptops to broader applications such as electric vehicles and home storage solutions.

Selected projects have been categorized into two topic areas: Development of Room Temperature Process for Recycling and Reuse of Electrodes; and Recycling of Electrodes.

Five projects were awarded for the first topic area, which accounts for $1.25 million of the funding. These include:

• Lithium recovery from process solutions – totaling $250,000 and headed by Argonne National Laboratory, they have partnered with Cirba Solutions to recover lithium from their unique recycling process. The goal is to recover lithium into a battery-grade product that can be returned to the battery supply chain.

• Improving processes for directly recycling lithium iron phosphate batteries – totaling $250,000 and led by Argonne, this partnership with Li Industries Inc. is to further advance the company's recycling of nickel-cobalt-manganese battery chemistries as well as lithium iron phosphate batteries. The goal of this endeavor is to further develop a cost-effective approach to directly recycle LFP batteries through various processes.

• Cost-competitive process of battery grade oxides preparation from aged LIBs – totaling $250,000, and led by ORNL, they have partnered with Nth Cycle to selectively precipitate metal hydroxides from aged cathode materials using a novel electro-extraction method. The goal of this project aims to recover metal hydroxide precipitates and then evaluate it as a precursor cathode active material for new lithium-ion batteries.

• Upcycling for re-manufacturability: morphological engineering of graphite for high-rate performance: totaling another $250,000 and headed by NREL, they have partnered with Koura Global to repair and upgrade morphology (shape and structure of batteries) of first-generation spent graphite to meet modern performance requirements. The goal is to produce "upcycled" graphite that is a viable alternative to pristine graphite through mechanical and mechano-chemical approaches.

• Atmospheric plasma for cathode re-lithiation and upcycling – the last $250,000 and led by NREL; partnering with Storagenergy Technology to use a one-step atmospheric microplasma reaction to remove electrolyte degradation products and re-lithiate end-of-life cathode materials. The goal of this project is to reduce the number of steps and time necessary for the direct recycling of battery components.

In the second topic area, the final three projects were awarded the remaining $750,000 between them. These include:

• Isolation and conversion of electrolyte components into a value-added product – led by ORNL, they have partnered with Austin Elements to recycle electrolyte from end-of-life batteries. The goal is to reduce environmental hazards, understand the fundamental differences between pristine and recycled electrolyte components, and effectively separate the value-added products, such as glycol and lithium fluoride.

• Dimethyl ether-driven extraction of electrolyte and solid electrolyte interphase from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries – headed by INL, they have partnered with American Battery Technology Company to develop and advance new methods to extract valuable, currently unrecovered electrolyte components. This project's goal is to develop environmentally conscious methods to remove electrolytes from end-of-life batteries and recover intact components, including organic solvents and inorganic lithium salts.

• Recovery and rejuvenation of f-containing salts from li-ion batteries – also led by INL, they've partnered with Koura Global to advance new methods to upcycle extracted electrolyte components. The goal of this project is to develop methods of recovering, classifying, quantifying, and upcycling electrolyte components through a combination of extraction and synthetic routes.

Targeting several facets of lithium-ion batteries along their chain and lifespan, this concerted research effort is a signal of the importance DOE has placed on bringing this technology to bear and to move beyond.

"AMMTO recognizes the imperative to address the escalating demand for these power sources," the agency penned in its announcement. "Furthermore, the advancement of LIB remanufacturing technologies is crucial in ensuring America's energy independence. The chosen projects resonate with the Energy Technology and Manufacturing Workforce (ETMW) subprogram's vision, emphasizing the swift transition from foundational recycling research and development (R&D) to applied RD&D."