Thursday, 28 March 2024
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EV battery maker creates first recycled cells, expands recycling plant

A Swedish EV battery maker and recycling specialist that has been on the pursuit of making the world’s “greenest” Lithium Ion cells has created its first unit made with 100% recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt.

Northvolt has been producing cells since 2016 for some of the EV market’s largest companies, working as a sideline to reduce the impact of what can be a toxic product. As part of this ambition it has now put a fully recycled cell through testing, achieving what it says is performance parity with newly mined materials.

Uniquely, all recycling and production processes were completed on a single site, at Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden.

As a result of the innovation the firm will now commit to the expansion of its recycling plant capacity to enable recycling of 125,000 tons of batteries per year, amounting to approximately 30 GWh of battery production per year. Construction will now begin in Q1 of 2022, with operations commencing by 2023. End of life materials and production scrap will be put to use as part of the recycling process.

Emma Nehrenheim, Northvolt’s Chief Environmental Officer and head of Revolt, commented: “What we have shown here is a clear pathway to closing the loop on batteries and that there exists a sustainable, environmentally-preferable alternative to conventional mining in order to source raw materials for battery production. The recycling process can recover up to 95% of the metals in a battery to a level of purity on par with fresh virgin material. What we need now is to scale-up recycling capacities in anticipation of future volumes of batteries requiring recycling.”

The recovery process from old cells utilises a low-energy hydrometallurgical treatment which involves the use of an aqueous solution to isolate the metals and separate them from impurities.

Northvolt believes that investment in its recycling capabilities will enable 50 percent of all its raw material requirements to be sourced from recycled batteries by 2030.

Alongside direct delivery of nickel, manganese, cobalt and lithium metals into Northvolt battery production processes, Revolt Ett will recover copper, aluminium and plastics from the batteries and materials it recycles – all of which will be recirculated back into manufacturing flows through local third-parties.

Nehrenheim concludes: “As the electric vehicle revolution gains speed, we should be mindful that some 250,000 tons of batteries will reach their end-of-life in Europe by 2030. In this, some see challenges and obstacles. At Northvolt, we see opportunity. Similar to how we’ve found novel, sustainable solutions for the handling of salt byproduct at Northvolt Ett – treating it as a valuable product and not waste – the same is true with end-of-life batteries. Ultimately, a commitment to circularity will not only significantly reduce the environmental impacts of the battery industry, but also contribute to our vision to set a new benchmark for sustainability in manufacturing.”

For the bike industry, the subject of battery recycling has become a focal point and one that will increasingly feature as brands get to grips with producing sustainability reports.