Li-Cycle, a leading North America-based lithium-ion battery resource recovery company, announces the completion of its first shipment of commercially recycled battery material that contained energy metals concentrate. Li-Cycle supports lithium-ion battery recycling by recovering critical battery materials from lithium-ion batteries in a safe and sustainable manner. It is one of only a few companies in the world able to do so. The shipped product contained key energy metals including cobalt, lithium, and nickel.
Since the company was first established back in 2016, it developed an innovative lithium-ion battery recycling technology that allows 80-100% recovery of all materials found in lithium-ion batteries. The technology involves a two-step mechanical and hydrometallurgical/ ‘wet chemistry’ process, according to the company’s press release announcing the first commercial shipment.
The tech is capable of recycling all variants of anode and cathode chemistries within the lithium-ion spectrum, without requiring to be sorted into specific chemistries. What’s more, the batteries are safely processed with no risk of thermal runaway. In other words, there is no risk of fire during processing. Additionally, the process technology is inherently sustainable, generating no solid waste streams, minimal to no water discharge and no harmful air emissions.