Recycling Already Considered in the Development of New Battery Materials

Enormous ecological and economic potential consists in the circular value chain of batteries: The use of recycled materials not only reduces the costs of raw materials, but also enables energy savings in battery production. A review article on battery recycling published in the scientific journal "Advanced Energy Materials" provides an overview of the challenges of new material concepts for battery recycling, "Design for Recycling" as a promising approach of a sustainable battery economy as well as regulations and new battery directive demands in the United States, the European Union (EU) and China. "The dynamic development of the battery market is also reflected in the materials used. A mix of materials is often used as active materials, which complicates achieving high recycling efficiencies and purities of the different raw materials", explains Dr Sascha Nowak, Head of Analytics and Environment Division at MEET Battery Research Center of the University of Münster. In addition, certain active materials such as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) have a lower intrinsic material value compared to lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM). The profitability of recycling such materials is therefore reduced. According to the research team, one approach to overcome existing and new challenges is the concept "Design for Recycling".