Dan's Biz Bookshelf: 'Revenge of the Tipping Point'
Marcy's Musings: Engineering Economics
Punching Out: Should You Sell Your Company to a Private Equity Firm?
Argonne, Toyota Collaborate on Cutting-Edge Battery Recycling Process
May 1, 2024 | BUSINESS WIREEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has recently launched a collaboration with Toyota Motor North America that could reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign sources of battery materials.
Argonne, Toyota Research Institute of North America, and Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Solutions group are exploring an innovative approach to recycling battery components. If successful, this effort can make domestic battery supply chains more robust and circular. That in turn can enable rapid deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S.
In most battery recycling today, the chemical structure of end-of-life battery components is broken down into the raw materials used in manufacturing. Unlike this traditional approach, a technique called direct recycling carefully extracts components from spent batteries. The components’ original structure is retained. If done well, manufacturers can re-use the components, reducing costs and waste.
Argonne and Toyota Motor North America have signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to develop a direct recycling process for cathodes (positive electrodes) in lithium-ion batteries, which are prevalent in EVs. In particular, the team is looking at cathodes made of nickel, manganese and cobalt.
The collaboration is taking advantage of an effective, patent-pending direct recycling process developed by the Argonne-based ReCell Center. The process uses a magnet to separate cathodes and anodes (negative electrodes) from batteries.
Toyota is providing Argonne with Toyota plug-in hybrid EV batteries. Argonne researchers will apply ReCell’s direct recycling process to Toyota’s battery cells, extracting and regenerating the cathode material. The team will test various aspects of the cathodes’ performance in coin cells.
If the cells perform well, Argonne will scale up the process, build larger pouch cells from the extracted cathodes, and test the cells’ performance. In parallel, Toyota will use its own research facilities to build and test cells.
The team will compare the performance of the recycled cathodes with the performance of new, pristine cathodes. The team will also use Argonne’s EverBatt model to evaluate the costs and environmental effects of applying the direct recycling process to Toyota’s batteries.
“Our goal is to prove that the process can make high-performing cathodes cost-effectively while reducing energy use and emissions,” said Argonne Principal Materials Scientist Albert Lipson. “If we’re successful, EV and battery manufacturers can potentially commercialize the process.”
The research project is part of the ReCell Center, which is supported by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office.
Share on:
Suggested Items
New Class of Cobalt-Free Cathodes Could Enhance Next-Gen Lithium-Ion Batteries
12/24/2020 | ORNLOak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a new family of cathodes with the potential to replace the costly cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today’s lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
Researchers Improve Method to Recycle and Renew Used Cathodes from Lithium-Ion Batteries
04/19/2019 | Jacobs School of EngineeringResearchers at the University of California San Diego have improved their recycling process that regenerates degraded cathodes from spent lithium-ion batteries. The new process is safer and uses less energy than their previous method in restoring cathodes to their original capacity and cycle performance.
Improving Method to Recycle and Renew Used Cathodes from Lithium-Ion Batteries
04/18/2019 | University of California San DiegoResearchers at the University of California San Diego have improved their recycling process that regenerates degraded cathodes from spent lithium-ion batteries.
New Approach Could Boost Energy Capacity of Lithium Batteries
03/26/2019 | MITResearchers around the globe have been on a quest for batteries that pack a punch but are smaller and lighter than today’s versions, potentially enabling electric cars to travel further or portable electronics to run for longer without recharging.
Improving Li-Ion Batteries by Coating Their Cathode
03/12/2019 | Tokyo TechScientists at Tokyo Tech and Okayama University found a way of greatly improving the performance of LiCoO2 cathodes in Li-ion batteries by decorating them with BaTiO3 nanodots.