As the car fleet tends to become more and more electric, what to do with end-of-life batteries that will flood the market? Different recycling techniques are being developed to process these complex elements.
“In 2021, 23% of vehicles (electric or hybrid) registered in Europe had batteries”, explains Pascal Muller, Director of the North East Pole at SARP-Veolia, during a conference at the Maison de la Chimie. And this percentage will continue to increase in a context of electrification of the car fleet. So how do you deal with end-of-life batteries? Especially since there are many battery technologies: NMC (Nickel manganese cobalt), the most common, LCO (Lithium cobalt oxide) or LFP (Lithium iron phosphate). And these systems sometimes contain components classified as CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction), flammable solvents which complicate their recycling.
However, their recycling is essential. Indeed, according to the Orano group (ex-Areva), the battery market amplifies the need for critical metals, to such an extent that from 2030, it is expected that more than 50% of the world’s lithium production and cobalt is captured by this market. It is therefore necessary to manage to secure the supply of metals. But for that, Europe will have to develop its treatment capacities. According to Ademe, “it is estimated that current French and European recycling capacities (15,000 tonnes per year) will be insufficient from 2027. European players, including French recyclers, will have to triple their processing capacity by this date”.
How to recycle batteries?
Today, the best way to recycle batteries remains hydrometallurgy, which requires a large number of preliminary steps. The batteries are dismantled and crushed before undergoing several mechanical and thermal separations. This makes it possible to recover the majority of iron and aluminum, and to discard plastics, binders and graphite. The process also makes it possible to obtain a powder containing the metal species to be recovered (nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese), called « black mass ». This is when hydrometallurgy begins. The process consists of leachings, extractions and complex separations in order to obtain metallic salts. Projects around hydrometallurgy and the treatment of black mass are at the heart of current research.
Thus, the French consortium RECYVABAT, launched by Orano, in partnership with other manufacturers, aims to test a new process for recycling the metals contained in the batteries of electric vehicles. Orano plans to build two pilot units, one for pretreatment and another for hydrometallurgy at the CIME (Center for Innovation in Extractive Metallurgy). These purified materials will then be sent to the CEA for the fabrication of cathode materials.
Swedish researchers from Chalmers University of Technology have also shown that the hydrometallurgy process might be carried out at room temperature. “In some cases, it is enough to reduce the temperature from 60 to 80°C to room temperature and go from several hours to only 30 minutes”says Burcak Ebin, a researcher in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers and one of the lead authors of the paper.
The start-up Mecaware, meanwhile, has developed a process that uses only CO2 recovered from industrial emissions, and amines. It is carried out in a three-phase medium, i.e. in a gaseous, liquid and solid phase at the same time. CO2 and amines form specific molecules that will selectively associate with metals. The start-up then separates the metal from the extractant by heating the solution to less than 100°C, in order to eliminate the CO2. A process which makes it possible to avoid the use of very acidic or basic products, as in conventional hydrometallurgy. This makes this technology “greener” thanks to a reduction in inputs and less energy-consuming. The company wants to build a first industrial unit in 2025.
A regulation that progresses
Legislators are increasingly addressing the issue of battery recycling. The European Union has also set targets for their composition. So, from 1is January 2030, they must include recycled metals: 12% cobalt, 85% lead, 4% lithium and 4% nickel. From 1is January 2035, the minimum proportion of cobalt, lithium or nickel resulting from recovery will be increased to 20% cobalt, 10% lithium and 12% nickel.
Last December, Pascal Canfin, MEP (Renaissance) and President of the Environment Committee, announced that the European Parliament and the Member States had found a “agreement on the European law for sustainable batteries. […] This regulation should make it possible to locate an industrial sector in Europe to ensure our strategic autonomy and the competitiveness of our industry”. If this agreement, which is still provisional, is ratified, it should make it possible to set targets for the collection, recycling and reuse of recycled raw materials.
