In Canada, the U.S., and many European countries, it’s estimated that only two to 11 percent of lithium-ion batteries find their way to a recycling facility when they die. Instead, they sit forgotten in cupboards or drawers or worse, end up in landfills. Electric cars could change that. Their batteries are too big, too toxic, and too valuable to simply throw away. The global EV revolution has given rise to a new recycling industry that hopes to capitalize on this future waste problem and help solve a looming minerals shortage.

“I think of it as urban mining,” says Ajay Kochhar, co-founder and CEO of Li-Cycle, a Canadian battery recycler that wants to make sure the precious minerals in EV batteries don’t go to waste. Li-Cycle’s Kingston, Ont. facility doesn’t resemble a mine; there’s no hole in the ground or tailings. Instead, a handful of workers unpack skids of old or defective electric vehicle battery modules, carefully lifting them onto a conveyor belt. Then, one by one, they are dropped into a chemical solution before being shredded.

This stage of the recycling process breaks down the batteries into three distinct components: plastics, metals, and black mass. The latter is Li-Cycle’s bread and butter. Black mass is a dark, shiny dirt-like substance that contains a concoction of minerals needed for new batteries. To retrieve them, the black mass must go through a complex process that involves using an acid solution to leach and separate the minerals. The end products are battery-grade materials ready to be sold back to battery manufacturers.

To read the full story, visit https://globalnews.ca/news/9405696/electric-vehicle-battery-recycling/.
Author: Krista Hessey, Global News
Image: Brent Rose, Global News

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