Innovative discharging technologies for Lithium-ion battery recyclability (DISCOVERY)

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The challenges of global warming have led to the rapid uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs), with sales predicted to top 36 million vehicles globally by 2040\. In line with this, the UK has recently announced ambitious plans to ban sales of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2030, and achieve fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035\.Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the preferred choice to power EVs, but at end-of-life they present a serious waste management challenge: LIBs are incredibly hazardous materials posing chemical, fire and explosion risks, and direct disposal into landfill is not an option given these risks. They are also a source of rare and valuable raw materials - such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper - which presents an opportunity to develop a circular economy industry in which waste is recycled for new resources. This has 3 major benefits;\* **Environmental**: recycling allows energy savings compared to mining.\* **Economic**: development of a recycling infrastructure will create jobs and value.\* **Strategic**: allows the recovery of mineral resources , many of which are not found in the UK.There are no LIB recycling facilities in the UK: currently, all spent LIBs (automotive or non-automotive) are shipped to the EU, or further afield to China and Korea, for recycling. Shipping these hazardous materials is expensive, logistically challenging and has significant environmental impact. Given the projected volumes of automotive LIBs potentially reaching end-of-life within the next ten years this situation is unsustainable.Developing LIB recycling capability is a complex technical problem. The incumbent industry uses pyrometallurgical techniques, which are relatively inefficient at recovering valuable metals, energy intensive and polluting. Newer hydrometallurgical technologies are greener and much more efficient -- but require that LIBs be discharged and disassembled prior to their processing. Discharging has received comparatively little research attention, and is the focus of this project.This project will bring together a battery recycler (Ever Resource), an electrical engineering company (Advanced Electronics and Logistics) and a University technology developer (WMG) to develop an innovative deep-discharge platform, DISCOVERY, that will allow tightly controlled, safe and efficient discharge of the majority of commercial EV LIBs. DISCOVERY is an enabling technology platform which can be employed as the front-end to a variety of downstream hydrometallurgical processing steps. It will support the development of a UK supply chain for LIB recycling in line with the goals of the Faraday Battery Challenge.