insights.globalspec.comBattery recycling tech debuts in the US
To contact the author of this article, email [email protected]S. Himmelstein|May 16, 2024
A commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility is now operating in Atoka, Oklahoma. This first such plant of its kind in North America will showcase multi-cathode-producing Green-hydrorejuevenation technology developed by Green Li-ion.
The advanced hydrometallurgical approach closes the recycling loop by eliminating the need to export the black mass formed by battery component shredding and processing for additional refinement. The scrap is instead directly converted into battery-grade precursor cathode active material (pCAM), reducing production time and delivering usable material in about 12 hours while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% relative to virgin materials processing.
Battery-grade pCAM is produced at the recycling plant. Source: Green Li-ion
The facility is projected to produce 2 metric tons/day of pCAM at battery grade, or the equivalent of 72,000 smartphone batteries per day. Green Li-ion plans to quadruple this capacity within the coming year and to deploy systems engineered to extract battery-grade iron phosphate plus lithium and graphite from lithium iron phosphate batteries. These technologies are fully customizable to supply materials meeting the specifications of battery cell manufacturers.
