PFI-TT: Next-Generation, Low-Cost, and Sustainable Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries

PFI-TT：下一代、低成本、可持续的锂离子电池回收

• 批准号: 2213895
• 负责人: Zheng Chen
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213895&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; TT; Next; Generation; Low

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to design and develop novel approaches to recycle and re-manufacture lithium-ion Batteries (LIBs) by recapturing valuable materials and thus mitigating environmental impacts. The large consumption of LIBs is poised to increase demand and resource shortages of lithium, critical metals, and graphite. The recycling of these valuable metals may reduce the overall cost of LIB manufacturing as a significant portion of the battery cost comes from these materials. The economic recycling of spent batteries is quite challenging. This project will involve student/researcher participation to develop the entrepreneurial skills needed to take the next-generation, low-cost, and sustainable LIB recycling technology to market. This project seeks to enhance fundamental understanding of the correlation between processing conditions and composition/structure properties of LIB materials. Such knowledge may be applied to scale up and commercialization of the next-generation technology for low-cost and sustainable LIB recycling. This project also seeks to increase the participation of women and minority students in entrepreneurial and technical training.The proposed project aims to improve and scale up advanced direct recycling technologies for spent LIBs to both recapture valuable materials and mitigate environmental pollution. The current industrial recycling methods, such as pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes, are costly with secondary pollution and limited profits. In contrast, the proposed direct recycling method offers a pathway to reduce the processing steps, reducting both cost and environmental issues. While the direct recycling process has been demonstrated in small laboratory scale, it has not been validated at commercially-relevant scales due to complications of material compositions and structural changes during scaling up. This project seeks to fill the remaining technological gaps and scale up the direct recycling process to kilogram levels of active materials for practical evaluation. The goals will be achieved through integrating efforts in: (1) examining and analyzing sorted battery electrode materials from different separation methods, (2) improving, optimizing and scaling up materials relithiation with a safe and low-cost process; (3) recycling active materials to accommodate the evolution of battery materials chemistry, (4) testing and evaluation of the performance of recycled materials to meet target performance, and (5) conducting life-cycle analysis to further guide the improvement of the entire direct recycling process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该创新-技术转化合作伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是设计和开发新方法，通过回收有价值的材料来回收和再制造锂离子电池（LIB），从而减轻对环境的影响。 锂离子电池的大量消耗将增加锂、关键金属和石墨的需求和资源短缺。回收这些有价值的金属可以降低LIB制造的总成本，因为电池成本的很大一部分来自这些材料。 废旧电池的经济回收是一个相当大的挑战。该项目将涉及学生/研究人员的参与，以发展将下一代，低成本和可持续的锂离子电池回收技术推向市场所需的创业技能。该项目旨在加强对LIB材料的加工条件和组成/结构特性之间的相关性的基本理解。这些知识可以应用于下一代低成本和可持续的锂离子电池回收技术的规模扩大和商业化。该项目还寻求增加妇女和少数民族学生参与创业和技术培训，拟议项目旨在改进和扩大先进的废旧锂离子电池直接回收技术，以重新回收有价值的材料并减轻环境污染。目前的工业回收方法，如火法和湿法冶金工艺，成本高，二次污染和利润有限。相比之下，所提出的直接回收方法提供了一种减少加工步骤的途径，从而减少了成本和环境问题。虽然直接回收工艺已在小规模实验室中得到证实，但由于材料组成的复杂性和放大过程中的结构变化，尚未在商业相关规模上得到验证。该项目旨在填补剩余的技术空白，并将直接回收工艺扩大到公斤级活性材料，以进行实际评估。这些目标将通过以下方面的综合努力来实现：（1）检查和分析来自不同分离方法的分类电池电极材料，（2）改进，优化和扩大材料的再锂化，并采用安全和低成本的工艺;（3）再循环活性材料以适应电池材料化学的演变，（4）测试和评估回收材料的性能，以满足目标性能，及（5）在以下情况下进行生命─循环分析，以进一步指导整个直接回收过程的改进。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。