Delphi Technologies in volume production of 800V SiC inverter; $2.7B customer win
California Energy Commission approves $95M plan for clean transportation investments; zero-emission infrastructure

Eramet, BASF and SUEZ partner to develop innovative closed-loop process for recycling Li-ion batteries

The “Recycling Li-ion batteries for electric Vehicle” (ReLieVe) project, founded by Eramet, BASF and SUEZ, will receive a €4.7 million in funding by EIT Raw Materials, a consortium initiated and funded by the European Union, and the three members. The objective is to develop an innovative closed-loop process to recycle lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and to enable the production of new lithium-ion batteries in Europe.

As of January 2020, and over a two-year period, the project ReLieVe will carry out a series of activities for the large-scale development of this innovative process and the structuring of an integrated industrial sector: from the collection and dismantling of end-of-life batteries going into recycling all the way to the manufacturing of new electrode materials.

The collaboration along the value chain supports an efficient and integrated approach. The industrial members of the project are leaders in their sector and are ideally placed in the value chain:

  • SUEZ for collection and dismantling of end-of-life batteries;

  • Eramet for the development of the recycling process; and

  • BASF for the manufacturing of cathode active materials.

Academic researchers from Chimie ParisTech and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) will support the members to accelerate the search for innovative solutions. The industrial members will also be backed by the automotive sector that will be part of the advisory committee.

The development of new European lithium-ion battery recycling capabilities will make it possible to respond to the strong growth of this market in the coming years and to the issue of securing Europe’s supply of raw materials required for its energy transition. Moreover, the virtuous recycling process meets the essential challenges of sustainable performance through its savings on raw materials.

The recovery of nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium elements into battery-quality products is at the center of Eramet Group’s current R&D developments.

The ReLieVe project responds to the European Commission’s appeal to unite European players to position itself in the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market. Thanks to this funding, the ReLieVe project will be able to accelerate its work and progress towards the construction of a lithium-ion battery recycling sector with an innovative and competitive process on a European scale

—Laurent Joncourt, Chairman of Eramet Ideas, the Group’s R&D Center

EIT Raw Materials, which is the largest consortium in the raw materials sector worldwide, co-finances the ReLieVe project. It was initiated and funded by the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology), a body of the European Union. Its mission is to enable sustainable competitiveness of the European minerals, metals and materials sector along the value chain by driving innovation, education and entrepreneurship.

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.