A circular and chemistry-neutral approach for recycling and recovery of battery waste feeds

The increasingly rapidly growing electric vehicles (EV) market results in higher growth rates in all the LIBs volume categories, from cradle to grave. This trend makes ever more urgent the boosting of battery recycling for several reasons, the most important ones being: i) the preservation of the environment, and ii) the development of a circular economy reducing the demand for virgin materials and the Europe’s dependence from third countries. All these crucial aspects need to be handled through the development of new recycling and re-use concepts, fostering demonstrable effects in terms of efficiency and sustainability. RENOVATE aims at developing and demonstrating new circular economy solutions for the European battery value-chain, targeting the re-use of 100% of in-specification cell fractions (e.g. metallic foil, graphite, electrolyte, fluorinated compounds and cathode active materials) within the battery value chain, fostering a closed-loop circular approach that can reduce battery material waste going to landfill, increase the availability of battery precursors in the European battery eco-system, and demonstrate new added-value business cases for recyclers and battery materials users. All recycled materials will be recovered over all potential streams (pre-customer scraps and End-of-Life products). The ultimate goal is to support the green and digital transformation of the European battery industry to increase its competitiveness and promote its just growth path. Holistic, flexible, and closed-loop processes for the recycling of EoL batteries based on both low and high energy density chemistries will be designed and validated to allow real and easily implementable “net zero carbon” process. A specific aim will also be smart re-integration of the side streams (e.g. waste chemicals/solvents) in the recycling processes and/or in in other industrial activities to minimize the residues coming from batteries production.