ACE Green Recycling and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laborator have signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to further develop and optimize ACE’s environment friendly and low cost lithium-ion battery recycling technology for recycling of graphite, lithium-iron phosphate and other cathode active materials. This collaboration advances DOE’s deep commitment and investments in the development of sustainable, cost effective and environment friendly lithium-ion battery recycling in the United States.
Located in Golden, Colorado, NREL is a DOE national laboratory focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. As part of this mission, NREL is committed to the development and deployment of key breakthroughs for battery recycling technologies.
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The volume of LFP batteries based electric vehicles is primed to grow significantly in coming years with major automobile manufacturers like Tesla and Ford starting to switch to LFP from Nickel and Cobalt based batteries due to its lower cost. However, LFP battery recycling is seen by the industry as a particularly challenging problem due to the difficulty in extracting its valuable materials (lithium and graphite) profitably.
“Current hydrometallurgical recycling methods focus on extracting high-value materials from LFP batteries, such as lithium and copper,” said Andrew Colclasure, NREL. “To encourage a more holistic approach to recycling, we must demonstrate efficient processes that also recycle low-value materials such as graphite and iron-phosphate into commercially viable products. We look forward to working alongside our industry partners to advance low-cost recycling technologies to make the process more economical and environmentally friendly.”
SOURCE : PRNewswire