In the era of electrification, Robin Brundle, Director and Co-founder of Recyclus Group, explains the need for the UK to take a leading role in lithium-ion battery recycling.
Rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become part of our everyday lives, from electronic devices such as phones, laptops and tablets to their increasing use in vehicles, industrial applications and energy storage. In the era of electrification, the demand for critical battery materials is growing exponentially.
It is essential that these end-of-life batteries are recovered and repurposed in a responsible and sustainable manner in order to support continuous use and achieve net-zero targets. As the UK’s leading battery recycling business, Recyclus Group is committed to creating a sustainable circular economy for battery metals.
One of the major challenges in Li-ion battery recycling is the sheer variety of chemistries and battery structures in use across the sectors. The most common are lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) batteries, often used for consumer goods, and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries typically found in electric vehicles – but there are many more. To manage the challenges posed by spent batteries, it’s vital that recycling facilities can accommodate the variations of chemistry effectively and efficiently.
The team at Recyclus brings together a wealth of strong expertise from across the industrial, natural resources, automotive and defence sectors, as well as specialist design and process engineering experience in the battery recycling sector.
We have developed an industry-leading recycling process and, in July, opened the UK’s first industrial-scale Li-ion battery recycling plant – our LiBatt facility in Wolverhampton. Now, having just successfully completed the commissioning phase, we have started commercial operations and are forecasting to process 8,300 tonnes of batteries in our first year.
We operate a fully automated battery process that is clean, high-quality, and low-energy – and without using water. We can accept all types of Li-ion chemistries as well as lithium metal at industrial scale – a scope, breadth and flexibility which we believe is a first in Europe.
We have an industry-leading approach to the first stage of shredding. It’s an automated dry shredding process that uses nitrogen to create an inert environment that suppresses fire and explosion. The electrolytes can then be extracted under moderate heat, so it’s much less energy-intensive. Most battery recycling facilities use either furnace pre-treatment or shredding under an aqueous solution to prevent dangerous reaction or thermal runaway. Both of these processes require a lot of energy for heating or drying whilst generating further waste products. This means that our process delivers a downstream recovery of close to 100% of the battery materials and chemicals, including the electrolyte, with zero to landfill.
Maximising the material recovery is essential to help us reduce dependence on raw materials and also to develop a domestic industry. We are recovering industrial-grade black mass (lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel metals), which typically contains 20-25% battery metals by mass. We are currently achieving up to 45% net black mass yield at our LiBatt facility. This black mass can then be resold to processing partners to remanufacture Li-ion batteries.
By establishing industrial-scale battery recycling capabilities here in the UK, we can create more independence from countries currently dominating the rare-earth metals market, namely China, Australia and Latin America. In doing so, we are contributing to a secure, sustainable supply that contributes to the UK’s battery strategy.
We urgently need to develop and implement clear and specific regulations for handling Li-ion battery waste to support the UK’s battery strategy, as these simply don’t yet exist.
Together with our business partner, Slicker, we offer an ADR-compliant, nationwide collection service. We have developed a LiBox storage product, which is a pallet-sized market-leading steel fabricated, UN-certified and ADR-compliant packaging solution. It’s rated to the highest kW packaging on the market and can control thermal conditions of up to 2,000°C, containing any unstable battery incidents safely, removing the risk of fire or explosion.
We have observed a lot of waste holders with mixed battery waste in store without appropriate hazardous waste storage facilities or any onward processing plan, which poses a serious ongoing safety risk to their commercial properties and occupants. These businesses must be encouraged to store and move their product on for treatment using a safe, secure and simple solution. In collaboration with government and industry, creating a safe, responsible regulatory framework for Li-ion storage and transportation would completely de-risk the chance of Li-ion battery-related fires and explosions.
Against the backdrop of rising demand for battery metals, and the increasing volume of batteries nearing end-of-life, it’s clear to see how vital it will be that the UK possesses the capabilities to recycle and repurpose critical materials. By combining cutting-edge technology with sustainability and safety measures, Recyclus is setting new industry standards and helping to establish a more secure and independent position in the global battery industry while also significantly reducing the environmental footprint of battery waste.
To find out more about Recyclus Group, please visit www.recyclusgroup.com
