Hydrometallurgy & Recirculation of Batteries

The rapid growth of electric vehicles worldwide has placed significant pressure on the supply of critical raw materials, including lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, which are essential for battery production. Consequently, the recycling of end-of-life batteries has become a crucial strategy to ensure a sustainable supply of these materials while reducing the environmental impact of battery waste.

Several battery recycling flowsheets have been developed and are already implemented at the industrial scale. However, battery recycling remains a complex and costly process, with relatively low technology readiness for the efficient recovery of components such as lithium, graphite, electrolytes, and other organic compounds. This complexity is further exacerbated by the rapid evolution of battery chemistries, all of which eventually enter recycling streams, necessitating increasingly sophisticated separation and purification processes. Moreover, existing recycling technologies often rely on extensive chemical usage, high water consumption, and generate significant waste and by-products, which are not always assessed within sustainable and circular economy frameworks.

To address these challenges, our research focuses on the development of simplified, compact, and energy-efficient battery recycling flowsheets based on hydrometallurgical processes. These flowsheets are designed to be robust and adaptable to a wide range of battery compositions, including those anticipated in future technologies. The approach emphasises not only the recovery of target metals and non-metals but also the valorisation of by-products, with particular attention to the regeneration of chemical reagents.

Overall, the research aims to minimise energy consumption, chemical usage, and water demand while achieving high recovery efficiency and process robustness. The ultimate goal is to develop recycling flowsheets that can competitively complement or even rival conventional mining practices in terms of cost, sustainability, and environmental impact.