The Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB), research centre of the TU Braunschweig has published the brochure "Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries" in cooperation with the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and RWTH Aachen University. The 28-page document explains the structure and functioning of the battery cells, the risks in handling the cells and the challenges in dismantling them, as well as various approaches to battery recycling.
"The amount of Lithium-ion Batteries that are in the last stage of their 'life' in electric vehicles will increase massively in the coming years. That's why we have to develop economic and sustainable concepts for recycling and raw material recovery," emphasises PEM head Prof. Achim Kampker. Even today, a recycling rate of up to 95 percent is technically feasible." In view of the expected boom in e-mobility, the still very high production rejects in current battery production make energy-efficient recycling management and higher recycling capacities necessary, as well as the high increase in end-of-life batteries to be expected in the next few years," says Prof. Arno Kwade, Founder and Spokesman of the BLB. The topic is also significant for mechanical and plant engineering, as a completely new market segment is opening up with increasing demand for recycling, adds Dr. Joachim Döhner, Chairman of the VDMA Battery Production Department: "The necessary automation of battery disassembly and the recovery of recyclable materials will generate new know-how and ultimately also new business areas."
To implement sustainable concepts for batteries at their "end of life", all players along the value chain – from material synthesis to battery cell, battery module and battery pack production to the use phase – must address the issue, the authors of the brochure emphasise.
The document is available for free download here.