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

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）使用量的指数级增长，预计废旧锂离子电池的数量将出现爆炸式增长，新电池和其他技术对关键金属的需求也将增加。废lib含有重金属、有机化学品、塑料等。，这将对环境造成很大的危害。它们还含有Ni、Co、Mn、Li等贵重金属，如果不合理回收利用，会造成资源的浪费。因此，废lib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量需求，使用对环境有害的化学物质，并且导致材料回收的形式不适合在循环经济方法中重复使用。因此，目前只有不到5%的lib被回收利用。制造商更愿意使用新的原材料，而不是投资回收废旧电池。该项目旨在开发能够从废LIB中回收锂和其他关键金属的技术。回收将直接从电池的电极进行，而不会粉碎电池的组件。超声波将用于帮助从电极上剥离活性金属并回收它们。与目前的工业方法不同，这一过程简单且成本效益高，它将能够回收纯度足够的金属，以便在新电池中重复使用。该项目的成功将有助于锂离子电池领域的高效循环经济，从而为电动汽车行业创造信心，使公众相信电动汽车的使用对环境和自然资源无害。

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.