Partners from the industrial and scientific communities want to jointly prove that the most valuable components of traction batteries can be recovered and reused several times in succession through recycling. The HVBatCycle research consortium has the goal of keeping cathode metals, electrolyte and graphite permanently in a closed material cycle (closed loop). Under the leadership of the Volkswagen Group, TANIOBIS GmbH, J. Schmalz GmbH and Viscom AG are working together with researchers from RWTH Aachen University, TU Braunschweig and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films (IST) for three years to research and develop the necessary processes. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
TANIOBIS GmbH is a quality supplier of powders containing niobium and tantalum for hydrometallurgical manufacturing processes including solvent extraction. As a subsidiary of JX Nippon Mining & Metals, it has in-depth knowledge of hydrometallurgical recycling of lithium-ion batteries, which will be used in the project. Based on this, TANIOBIS GmbH will build and operate the required hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical infrastructure at the Chemiepark Oker site, where a certified analytical laboratory is also available.
In contrast to VW, BMW is focusing on NMC batteries as favored by Neometals / Primobius for the recycling economics.
Under the heading “Design for Recycling”, the BMW Group sees the development and production of every new BMW vehicle as laying the foundations for an environmentally compatible method of recycling. This also includes end-of-life high-voltage batteries in electric vehicles. In addition to a secondary usage as stationary electricity storage for stabilising the public electricity grid, the BMW Group is also working with various partners to develop recycling and the establishment of closed material cycles (circularity) for battery cells.
BMW will stick with NMC chemistry rather than switch to the increasingly popular Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), although this will be an option with the Gen6 technology. However, the nickel content will be increased while the cobalt content will be reduced in the cathodes, with more silicon content on the anodes. This is how the 20% increase in volumetric energy density will be achieved – in a similar fashion to Tesla’s 4680 cells.
BMW started producing the i3 in 2013 and stopped production in August 2022. The Neometals half year report specifically references end of life batteries secured from a German OEM. BMW fits this mould IMO.
Baseload feedstock (end-of-life LIB) was secured from a German OEM for the Hilchenbach Spoke which now has sufficient feed supply for all of 2023 and continues to be ramped-up;
