British and American scientists have found a way to better recycle batteries from electric cars, significantly reducing not only the cost of their production, but also greenhouse gas emissions.
Streamlining the recycling of electric car batteries is an important step in the context of the expected increase in demand for fully electric cars. A team of American and British researchers has found a way to extract more material from obsolete batteries than before.
The current method of recycling is based on grinding recycled material into small pieces and its subsequent processing and production of a new component, or on the use of pyrometallurgy. However, both procedures are very expensive. Researchers have now used so-called direct recycling, which can save important battery components (especially the cathode with anode) and dramatically reduce energy consumption and thus recycling costs.
Researchers working on the ReLib project at the Faraday Institute have found that ultrasonic waves and anode cathodes can be recycled with gentle direct recycling without the need to crush them first. It is estimated that this could save up to 60 percent of the cost of using a completely new material to make a battery.
