The electric circle - Kelleher Environmental
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EV BATTERY RECYCLING
The electric circle
Developing a
N
ot much question about worker who has not received sufficient
it – electric vehicles are training on proper management.
circular economy likely to take over the mar-
for EV batteries is a ket. The important ques- Why it matters
tion is when this will happen. Regard- The cost of EVs is expected to fall as the
big opportunity for less of the timing, at end of life (EOL), cost of the EV battery (which makes
which is eight to 10 years or more after up a third of the vehicle cost) contin-
Canadian companies introduction to the market, electric ues to drop. It is predicted by 2022 the
vehicle (EV) batteries need to be prop- EV version will cheaper to buy than its
By Maria Kelleher and erly managed. internal combustion engine counter-
Samantha Millette Electric vehicles generally include part. With much lower operating costs
hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and than traditional vehicles, EVs will
pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs). slowly penetrate the Canadian and US
These vehicles use batteries that range marketplaces.
in weight and chemistry. Most hybrids All vehicle OEMs are developing
use a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) many EV options and investing heav-
chemistry and weigh about 100 kg, ily in EV battery technology. Part of the
while PHEVs and BEVs need a lithi- push is from China, which requires at
um-ion battery. A BEV such as a Tesla least 10 percent of vehicles from any
uses a lithium-ion battery that can OEM selling more than 30,000 vehicles
weigh up to 470 kg. into Chinese market to be EVs, with the
This makes EV batteries challeng- percentage growing in future years. For
ing, and in fact dangerous, to handle a company like Volkswagen AG (which
at end of life, because they are very owns Audi – see sidebar, page 20), with
heavy, and cannot be lifted and moved 40 percent of its sales in China, this has
without specialized equipment. More required a significant investment in EV
importantly, they retain a significant technology.
charge, which can seriously injure a About 690,000 EVs were sold in the
16 www.solidwastemag.com
U.S. in 2018 (327,000 hybrids, 122,000
plug-in hybrids, and 239,000 BEVs),
and these numbers are expected to
grow in future years, with projections
varying widely. Projects suggest about
eight percent or more of the auto sales
in 2025 may be EVs. A study prepared
for the American Petroleum Institute
by Kelleher Environmental (with Mil-
lette Environmental and Gracestone)
concludes that about 525,000 EV bat-
teries will reach end of life by 2025 and
over one million units will hit end of
life by 2030. These figures are based on
EV sales data from 2000 to 2018 and
sales projections to 2023.
Exploring the options
An April 2019 report by Propulsion The EV battery lifecycle
Quebec suggests the number of EOL
EV batteries in Canada could increase
to between 140,000 and 210,000 by Re-use applications for EOL EV bat- reassembling the battery pack, either
2030. Options to manage these bat- teries include both stationary and in its original format or in a format suit-
teries at end of life include re-use and mobile options. These include appli- able for the new application. This pro-
recycling. While recycling is getting a cations that split the used EV into its cess involves diagnostic and screening
lot of attention these days, re-use is a constituent parts down to the cell or tests to identify the EV battery chem-
better option, which extends the life of pack level, or where the unit is main- istries and designs. Generally, each EV
the EV batteries and cells. tained intact with low-performing battery needs to be evaluated individu-
Some Canadian companies, with cells removed and replaced with new ally, because each one has been exposed
varying levels of support from the fed- or reconditioned cells. to different charging and discharging
eral government, are already exploring There are now a number of exam- conditions during its use in a vehicle.
recycling options for EV batteries, but ples of second life applications for EV Spiers New Technologies (SNT) of
lots of opportunities remain, particu- batteries initiated by either vehicle or Oklahoma City is currently the largest
larly in the EV battery re-use market. battery OEMs, sometimes in partner- company involved in EV battery re-use
Now is the time for Canadian compa- ship with utilities, research institutes in the U.S. In addition to recondition-
nies to get ahead of the curve while the or universities. These includes for ing batteries for clients such as Nissan,
numbers of EOL EV batteries are small. example re-use in EVs (after battery General Motors and Ford, SNT also
Anecdotally, Canadian auto shred- pack and battery cell testing and eval- uses EV batteries to construct a num-
ders tell us they are getting a few EV uation) as a refurbished unit; re-use of ber of products such as “watt towers”,
batteries now, but the numbers are cells or packs in other battery applica- which are a smart energy storage solu-
beginning to grow. The metal shred- tions, such as drones, wheelchairs and tion that can be the primary power
ders we spoke with say they store the other devices; residential energy stor- source for households and businesses.
batteries for a while until a good recy- age or back up power; energy storage BigBattery is another major player in
cling or re-use option is available. in renewable systems (e.g. wind and the U.S. EV battery re-use business. With
power); and, for EV charging. four facilities, spanning 240,000 square
Re-using EV batteries Refurbishing EV batteries for re-use feet located in the US, Asia, and Europe,
When an EV battery is no longer suit- starts with partial disassembly of the the company converts used EV batteries
able for use in an EV, it still retains up battery pack. The next step involves into new battery packs that are re-used
to 80 percent of its charge and can be testing the state of health (SOH) of in emergency, portable and solar appli-
useful in many applications. Estimates each cell and pack and identification cations to give power to homes in
of the additional lifespan that re-use of cells that are no longer working, remote communities. In the US alone,
applications could give to an EV bat- replacing them with other cells capa- BigBattery processes more than 470
tery range from five to 30 years. ble of holding a sufficient charge, and megawatt hours of EV batteries.
Spring 2020 17
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EV BATTERY RECYCLING
When an EV battery
is no longer suitable
for use in an EV, it
still retains up to 80
percent of its charge
and can be useful in
many applications.
No Canadian companies were iden-
tified to date that were involved in the
EV battery re-use business but this is
an opportunity that will be viable in
the coming years as the flow of EV bat-
teries increases.
This installation is a demonstration project showing how end-of-life EV batteries
Canadian lithium-ion can be reused for energy storage.
battery recycling
While a few companies across Canada
are involved in collecting and prepar- the slurry is passed through a filter- new players in the EV battery recycling
ing lithium-ion batteries for recycling, ing technology to produce a cobalt market are trying to recover the cath-
two companies – Retriev and Glencore filter cake which is sold to prima- ode materials directly from the batteries
– are involved in the actual recycling ry-metal producers. The recycling effi- and produce an end product with much
process itself. ciency rate throughout the process is higher value to sell directly to battery
Retriev ( formerly Toxco) in Trail, estimated at 65 to 80 percent of the companies. This approach is called “cath-
British Columbia has been in the lith- incoming battery weight. ode to cathode” or “direct” recycling.
ium-ion battery recycling business Retriev provides customers with full The idea is to recover cathode mate-
for over 35 years. Today, the focus is reports on the time took to dismantle rials through hydrometallurgical pro-
still mostly on lithium-based batter- the battery, and also provides diagnos- cesses, which are much less energy
ies. Retriev has had contracts with EV tics on the SOH (state of health) of the intensive than the pyrometallurgical
manufacturers for a number of years, battery cells. processes currently used by smelters.
and has disassembled, analyzed and Glencore, in Sudbury, Ontario has Another big advantage is that these
processed over 90 different types of EV been involved in Li-ion battery recy- approaches (if successful) would pro-
battery packs. Its current capacity is cling market for many years, mainly duce an output material with much
4,500 tonnes per year. to recover cobalt and nickel. Due to higher value.
The first step in Retriev’s hydrome- the input feed size limitations of their Ontario-based Li-Cycle received
tallurgical recycling process is man- rotary kiln, the company asks col- a $2.7 million grant from Sustain-
ual disassembly, where skilled techni- lectors to break batteries down into able Development Technology Can-
cians dismantle the pack and separate smaller components before they are ada (SDTC) in 2018 to construct a
assembly pieces and circuitry from the introduced to the kiln/calciner for demonstration facility in Kingston. It
actual battery cells. Separated cells are metals recovery in a pyrometallurgical has two core components. The ‘spoke’
then fed via conveyor into a hammer process. The matte produced by the is a mechanical size-reduction tech-
mill crusher, which produces three process is shipped to a Glencore facil- nology capable of processing 5,000
types of materials: metal solids (cop- ity in Norway for further processing. tonnes of Li-ion batteries per year. It
per, aluminum and cobalt), lithium processes the recovered cathode and
brine slurry (dissolved electrolytes New recycling technologies anode materials into a mixed product.
and lithium salts), and Li-ion fluff (mix Rather than preparing EV battery The ‘hub’ consists of centralized hydro-
of plastics and some steel). components to send to large smelters metallurgical plants that can process
The metal solids can all be used as to recover metals such as nickel, man- 365 tonnes per year of material, and
raw materials in new products, while ganese, copper and cobalt, a host of produces end products like lithium,
Spring 2020 19
EV BATTERY RECYCLING
Audi’s electric cir
circuit
cuitss
RECYCLING
RECYCLING
German car manufacturer Audi and
its partner, materials expert Umicore,
have been able to recover more than
90 percent of the cobalt and nickel in
the high-voltage batteries of Audi’s
e-tron vehicle.
The companies are now collaborat-
ing on developing a closed loop for
cobalt and nickel. The recovered mate-
rials will be used in new battery cells. RE-USE
Umicore will receive cell modules Audi is testing factory vehicles powered by used lithium-ion batteries at its main
from the Audi e-tron model, which will plant in Ingolstadt, Germany.
initially be taken from development Like all automobile manufacturers, Audi is obliged by law to take back energy car-
vehicles. From those cells, the mate- riers after they have been used in cars. Because they still have a large proportion of
rials technology expert will recover their original charging capacity, an interdisciplinary project team is now investigat-
cobalt and nickel, and process them ing how batteries from Audi e-tron test vehicles or from hybrid models can continue
into precursor and cathode materials. to be used.
New battery cells containing recy- Factory vehicles in Audi’s production plants, such as forklifts and tow tractors, have
cled cobalt and nickel can be pro- so far been powered by lead-acid batteries, with their long-charge times, and awk-
duced from this precursor. ward removal processes. Lithium-ion batteries, by contrast, can be charged directly
“A closed loop for battery raw where the vehicles are parked during normal downtimes, in breaks between shifts,
materials is a big leap technologi- for example. This saves battery room space and eliminates the high manual effort
cally. We save precious resources required to replace the batteries.
and reduce CO2 emissions,” said Audi estimates it would save millions of dollars if it converted its entire fleet of fac-
Dr. Bernd Martens, member of the tory vehicles to lithium-ion batteries at its 16 production sites worldwide.
board of management for procure- “Every lithium-ion battery represents high energy consumption and valuable
ment and IT at Audi. resources that must be used in the best possible way,” said Peter Kössler, member
“In this way we come significantly of the board of management for production and logistics at AUDI AG. “For us, a
closer to our goal of a sustainable sustainable electric-mobility strategy also includes a sensible second-use concept
supply chain and reach a milestone on for energy carriers.”
the road to achieving an overall car- The remaining charging capacity of a lithium-ion battery after use in a car is more
bon-neutral balance by 2050. It is our than sufficient for the requirements of material handling vehicles.
aim to think sustainability holistically. The battery of an Audi e-tron consists of 36 individual battery modules and is
This includes dealing with the remain- located under the car’s passenger cell between the axles, in the form of a flat, wide
ing ‘end of life’ as well as resource-sav- block. After batteries are taken back, the project team checks each individual mod-
ing development of our products.” ule for its continued usability. They then install 24 modules in each new battery tray.
“Umicore is committed to enabling This has the same dimensions and weight as the previous lead-acid batteries of the
the transition to electrified mobility,” factory vehicles, so the company can continue to use all of those vehicles without
said Marc Grynberg, CEO of Umicore. any major investments.
“Innovative technologies, respon- In the future, Audi sees the possibility of a team of specialized employees that
sible sourcing and closing the mate- could take over the assembly of the second-use batteries in the company’s own
rials loop will lead the drive towards battery centre.
clean mobility. This project with Audi A project team from production, logistics and development has been working on
is at the forefront of the develop- this second use of used battery modules for about two years. After the first tests
ment of a sustainable value chain for were successful, they are now testing the first converted factory vehicles in every-
electrified transport.” day production.
20 www.solidwastemag.com
cobalt, nickel, and manganese that
can be re-used in new battery produc-
tion. The company claims its technol-
ogy can recover 80 to 100 percent of all
materials in lithium-ion batteries.
Li-Cycle announced in February
2020 that it would be establishing a
commercial-scale 5,000 tonne per year
Li-ion battery recycling facility in New
York state. It is expected to be fully
operational by the end of 2020 at a cost
of US$23.3 million over three years.
Quebec-based Lithion Recycling
also received $3.8 million from a SDTC
program to develop its hydrometallur-
gical process. Working in collaboration
with Seneca experts-conseils, Call2Re-
cycle, Hydro Quebec’s Centre of Excel-
lence in Transportation Electrifica-
tion and Energy Storage (CEETES),
and the Centre d’étude des procédés Audi is one car manufacturer that is working hard to develop a circular lifecyle
chimiques du Québec (CÉPROCQ), the for its EV batteries.
company has developed a process to
recover 95 percent of the various com-
ponents of spent Li-ion batteries. from the National Research Council of percent recovery of battery materials.
Lithion is currently in the process Canada Industrial Research Assistance An investment decision on this plant
of building a $12 million pilot factory Program, will support collaboration is expected in December 2020.
in Montreal, which is slated to begin between American Manganese and
operations in 2020. The goal is to pro- Battery Safety Solutions (BSS). A powerful future
duce purified battery-grade materials Neometals is an Australian lithium In Canada, the EV battery re-use and
–cobalt, graphite, nickel hydroxide, mining company that in February recycling sectors are still underdevel-
and manganese oxide – that can be 2019 awarded SGS Canada a contract oped, but a number of promising proj-
used by battery manufacturers in the to construct and operate Stage 1 of its ects and technologies are currently
production of new batteries. Li-ion battery recycling pilot plant at being developed and slated for pilot-
American Manganese Inc. in Surrey, its Lakefield, Ontario, facility. Neomet- ing or commercial development over
British Columbia, recovers the cath- al’s hydrometallurgical process targets the next few years. The recycling and
ode materials in Li-ion batteries using the recovery of cobalt from consumer re-purposing of EV batteries will not
its patented five-stage RecycLiCo pro- electronic batteries (with lithium only prevent a huge burden on land-
cess. The company claims their process cobalt oxide cathodes) as well as nick- fills, but will also help keep critical
provides near 100 percent extraction el-rich EV and stationary storage bat- materials (such as cobalt, nickel, man-
of battery-grade-purity cathode mate- tery chemistries (lithium-nickel-man- ganese and lithium) in productive use
rials with a minimum of processing ganese-cobalt cathodes). for as long as possible, a core element
steps. A pilot plant located in Rich- In November 2019 Neometals of the circular economy.
mond, B.C., is providing the com- announced it had successfully recov-
pany with data to optimize a planned ered a very high purity (over 99.9 per- Maria Kelleher is principal of Toronto-
three- to five-tonne per day commer- cent) nickel sulphate solution from based Kelleher Environmental. Saman-
cial demonstration plant expected to the hydrometallurgical processing tha Millette is principal of Millette Envi-
be operational by late 2020. stage of its recycling technology. The ronmental. They completed a study
Their ultimate goal is a 30- to pilot-test work currently being under- on EV battery recycling and re-use for
50-tonne per day recycling plant pro- taken will supply the company with the American Petroleum Institute with
ducing cathode precursor material data for feasibility studies for a pro- Anne Peters of Gracestone Inc. The
that could be sold for use in the produc- posed commercial Li-ion battery recy- report is available at https://tinyurl.com/
tion of new Li-ion batteries. Funding cling venture targeting greater than 90 battery-report.
Spring 2020 21
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