ULTRAsound-assisted recycling of Lithium and Critical metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (ULTRALiC)

超声波辅助从废旧锂离子电池中回收锂和关键金属 (ULTRALiC)

• 批准号: 10025905
• 金额: $ 8.92万
• 依托单位: N.D.T. CONSULTANTS LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10025905
• 关键词: ULTRAsound; assisted; recycling; Lithium; Critical

With the ever-growing demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs), especially due to the exponential expansion of electrical vehicles (EV) usage, it is anticipated there will be an explosion in the number of spent LIB's, and the need for key metals for new batteries and other technologies. Spent LIBs contain heavy metals, organic chemicals, plastics, _etc._, which will cause great harm to the environment. They also contain valuable metals of Ni, Co, Mn, Li, which will cause the squandering of resources without reasonable recycling. Therefore, recycling of spent LIBs is necessary for protecting the environment and saving resources.All the state-of-the-art methods used today to recycle batteries involve high energy requirements, use environmentally damaging chemicals and result in material recovery in forms that are inappropriate for reuse in a circular economy approach. As a result of this, less than 5% of LIBs are currently recycled. Manufacturers prefer using new raw material rather then investing in recycling waste batteries.This project aims at developing technology that will enable recovery of Lithium and other key metals from spent LIB's. The recovery will be carried out directly from the battery's electrodes without shredding the battery's components. Ultrasonics will be used to assist delamination of active metals from electrodes and to recover them. The process will be simple and cost-effective and, unlike the current industrial methods, will enable recovery of metals in a purity grade sufficient to re-use them in new batteries.Success of this project will contribute to efficient circular economy in the field of lithium-ion battery and, as a result, to the EV industry, creating confidence among the public that EV usage is not harmful to the environment nor to natural resources.

随着对锂离子电池（LIB）的需求不断增长，特别是由于电动汽车（EV）使用的指数级增长，预计废旧LIB的数量将出现爆炸式增长，以及对新电池和其他技术的关键金属的需求。废LIB含有重金属、有机化学品、塑料等，这将对环境造成极大的危害。它们还含有Ni、Co、Mn、Li等有价金属，如果不合理回收，会造成资源浪费。因此，废旧锂离子电池的回收利用对于保护环境和节约资源是必要的。目前用于回收电池的所有最先进的方法都涉及高能源需求，使用对环境有害的化学品，并导致材料回收的形式不适合循环经济方法中的再利用。因此，目前只有不到5%的LIB被回收。制造商更喜欢使用新的原材料，而不是投资回收废电池。该项目旨在开发技术，使锂和其他关键金属从废旧锂离子电池中回收。回收将直接从电池的电极进行，而不会粉碎电池的组件。超声波将被用来帮助活性金属从电极上剥离，并恢复它们。该项目的成功将有助于锂离子电池领域的高效循环经济，从而促进电动汽车行业的发展，使公众相信电动汽车的使用不会对环境和自然资源造成危害。