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With the progress of battery technology and the reduction of price, it is expected that the demand for electric vehicles will continue to increase in the next few years. According to the data of IEA (International Energy Agency), the number of electric vehicles on the world's roads may reach 125 million by 2030, which means that the number of batteries at different stages of the life cycle will also be quite high. Therefore, the problem of replaced power lithium-ion batteries has gradually caused people's concern. If the pollution is caused by improper treatment, it will also offset the benefits of electric vehicles.

The service life of typical power lithium-ion battery is about 7-10 years. However, even after the first life cycle, these batteries still have sufficient energy storage capacity and can be used for other applications with relatively low requirements. Some materials of waste batteries can also be extracted for reuse, which has triggered a new business of battery recycling and reuse. At present, many companies are exploring how to effectively extract materials from waste batteries and how to use waste batteries in other fields.

Leading by main engine factory

Realizing that old batteries may be a new source of income, many main engine manufacturers are now considering battery recycling. Audi recently announced that it had completed the first phase of the strategic research cooperation on battery recycling with Umicore, a Belgian material technology and recycling group. The two companies are developing a reusable "high-voltage battery element closed-loop". Audi and Umicore are also studying the concept of raw material warehouse for recycling raw materials. In June this year, the two companies began to cooperate in recycling batteries. Before that, Audi said that it had analyzed the battery of A3e-tronPHEV and determined the recycling method. The company also studied the possible recovery rates of battery components such as cobalt, nickel and copper. Audi claims that more than 95% of materials can be recycled in laboratory tests.

Last October, BMW, Northvolt and Umicore formed an alliance to develop a complete and sustainable value chain for power lithium-ion batteries in Europe. It is planned to start with the design of recyclable battery and its production process. First, it will be used as a power lithium-ion battery for a long time, and the second use may be used as an energy storage device. After the battery life cycle is complete, it will be recycled, and the raw materials will be extracted and reused to complete the cycle. In this cooperation, BMW will focus on battery development, Northvolt will establish battery production facilities in Sweden, and Umicore will focus on material recycling and recycling.

Last March, Nissan announced the establishment of Japan's first power lithium-ion battery recycling plant with Sumitomo in Namie, Japan, which will be operated by 4R Energy, a joint venture of the two companies. The battery recycled and reprocessed by the factory will supply the world's first replaceable reprocessed battery for electric vehicles, large energy storage systems and electric forklifts. Toyota is also exploring the potential application of power lithium-ion batteries. The company has established a large-capacity battery system in cooperation with the Central Electric Power Company of Japan.

Japanese main engine manufacturers are working together on a recycling project. It is reported that the Japan Association of Mainframe Manufacturers (JAMA) and the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Japan have announced a joint project initiated by Japanese mainframe manufacturers to collect used lithium-ion batteries and establish a recycling system. The "Japan Auto Recycling Partnership" established by the automobile industry in Tokyo will be responsible for this project. The recycling facilities will initially be established in seven counties, including Hokkaido, Akita, Ibaraki, Aichi, Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi.

The three major players in the United States (FCA, Ford and General Motors) are also cooperating in the lithium ion battery recycling business. Last November, the United States Advanced Battery Alliance (USABC), the three cooperative organizations, awarded Worcester Institute of Technology (WPI) US $1.08 million (really cheap~) for the second phase of lithium-ion battery recycling project. Previously, in February 2016, USABC gave WPI a US $1 million contract to expand and develop its recycling of PHEV battery cathode materials. The three companies invested in battery recycling as early as 2016, reflecting the sense of crisis of the main engine manufacturers in order to establish a stable supply chain of batteries and battery materials.

Material suppliers and battery suppliers have also increased their attention in this field. It is reported that Umicore plans to increase investment in battery recycling capacity in the next 10 years. The company's current waste battery recycling capacity is about 7000 tons, which is equivalent to about 15-20 million electric vehicle batteries. The company has also seen the trend that electric vehicles and PHEVs will increase sharply in the next few years, and is stepping up its expansion. At the same time, it is also rumored that Samsung SDI also plans to invest in a recycling technology company and has signed a long-term cobalt supply agreement.

Material recovery

With the increasing demand for power lithium-ion batteries, a market competition for raw materials such as cobalt and lithium has been triggered. The supply of these raw materials is controlled in a few countries, including Australia, Chile, Argentina and China, which makes the supply chain in an oligopoly state in nature. Therefore, many main engine manufacturers regard battery recycling as one of the ways to prevent excessive dependence on limited sources of raw materials. According to a report published by FT in September 2017, the Canadian battery recycling company Li-Cycle estimated that nearly 90% of the lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite and other raw materials in lithium-ion batteries can be recycled from old batteries. However, the effect of recycled materials will largely depend on the maturity of recycling methods. The extraction of cobalt will be a major focus in the future. Over the years, the price of these raw materials, especially cobalt and lithium, has been greatly boosted by the shortage of raw material supply sources. The price of cobalt jumped from $23500 per ton in January 2016 to $95000 in March 2018. After that, the price dropped slightly and hovered around US $55000 per ton.

At present, the price rise of raw materials is worrying. However, at present, many battery suppliers are working towards "cobalt free". In this case, the subsequent treatment of cobalt will be more uncertain. According to a study by Germany's HIU (Helmholtz Institute Ulm) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the demand for cobalt in 2050 may be twice the current proved reserves. According to researchers, this has aroused strong concern about the shortage and price rise of lithium ion batteries in the future.

Factors such as supply chain constraints and price increases may drive battery suppliers to turn to other raw materials, which are more easily available and have performance characteristics similar to lithium as a charge carrier and cobalt as one of the important raw materials for cathode. Some possible alternative materials considered by the researchers are sodium, magnesium, zinc, calcium and aluminum, which are collectively referred to as "post lithium system". It is very important and urgent to release the potential of post-lithium system and develop these innovative and high-energy batteries to make them mature in the market.

In January 2019, the European Union announced that it would fund an E-Magic project to develop rechargeable magnesium battery (RMB). The project is coordinated by the Civitec Foundation. The goal is to develop RMB with a density of more than 400Wh/kg and a cost of less than 100 Euro/kWh. The EU will award 6.7 million euros to the E-Magic project, which will last until the end of 2022. Magnesium battery is regarded as a viable alternative to lithium ion battery, which is safer and cheaper. According to the research of HIU, magnesium batteries form less dendrites during charging, which is an important safety challenge when using lithium metal anode. Its manufacturing cost is also low, because its reaction rate with air is lower than that of lithium metal, so it is easier to process.

At present, efforts to recycle mainstream battery materials are expected to make significant progress. Recently, American Manganese (a professional metal company in the United States) received a "license notice" from the United States Patent Office because of its lithium ion battery recycling technology. This new recovery technology can recover cobalt, nickel, manganese, aluminum, lithium and other cathode materials, and can be reused to manufacture new battery cathode materials.

The role of government

So far, the rise of the electric vehicle market largely depends on government policies, from encouraging buyers to encouraging sellers. It is expected that governments in important markets will take similar measures in the recovery and reuse of power lithium-ion batteries. In March 2018, the European Commission and Renault and other partners signed an innovative agreement entitled "From E-Mobility to Recycling: the virtual cycle of the electric vehicle" to solve the problem of the recycling of power lithium-ion batteries. The agreement will focus on promoting the secondary use of power lithium-ion batteries at the EU and national levels, and identify possible legislative and regulatory obstacles, as well as ways to overcome these obstacles.

Our government has also passed relevant temporary laws and regulations, requiring the main engine factory to be responsible for establishing facilities for recycling waste batteries. According to the regulations, the main engine factory must establish recycling channels and service outlets so that old batteries can be collected, stored and transferred to professional recyclers. The regulations also require new energy battery manufacturers to provide technical information on dismantling and recovering products, and provide necessary training to the main engine factory. According to the report of ChinaDaily in February 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology plans to jointly establish a unified information tracking platform with the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to strengthen the sharing and tracking of information related to power lithium-ion batteries.

At present, the industry should focus on two key areas. First of all, batteries should have a standardized design, which will make battery recycling more systematic and easy to popularize; Secondly, the whole process of extracting and reusing materials from waste batteries must be economically feasible.

Original title: New global investment in power lithium-ion battery recovery business

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