Recovering Metals from End-of-Life Lithium Batteries

Design updates for batteries are nothing new. Last year, MIT was working on the development of nanoscale batteries that would be faster and greener. For years, different companies and organizations have been developing ways to make batteries last longer.

Yet, e-waste is still a major problem throughout the globe. In the U.S. alone, only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled. Those are typically used to power hybrid cars and highly-advanced technology. As the popularity of such vehicles and gadgets continues to grow, we should be more concerned than ever as to how e-waste growth will rise.

So, instead of manufacturers focusing on how to encourage more battery recycling, perhaps the momentum needs to shift. The same lithium-ion batteries that are being discarded should have a further purpose before they are forgotten.

Thankfully, Momentum Technologies, based in Texas, has licensed a practice that allows them to recover some of the metals from end-of-life lithium batteries.

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What is the Process? 

Momentum Technologies is familiar with the Energy industry. They have always been dedicated to extracting critical metals that can be reused from different types of electronic waste.

Now, they are using a new process called the Membrane Solvent Extraction to recover such metals from lithium batteries while keeping them in a pure state. Momentum is working with the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute in order to recover some of the earth’s rarest elements from e-waste.

A Perfect Cycle

The main idea behind this process is to create a full cycle that makes earth’s elements reusable over and over since they are becoming rarer by the minute. Because the extraction process is taking out the purest form of these elements, they can be reused and reformed into batteries for new devices.

The process itself also uses minimal energy and chemical solvents, making it a safe practice. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, it reduces the battery industry’s dependence on going overseas to mine for materials. Not only will that save the industry time and money, but it can have a major impact on the environment as it reduces drilling efforts and turns the precious metals we have already used into something that can be renewed again and again.

The extraction consists of using the membrane solvent to get rid of any plastics or unusable materials, leaving a “sludge” behind of pure lithium metals. Those can then be used by manufacturers to create new battery power for everything from electric vehicles to wind turbine generators.

This isn’t where Momentum Technologies is stopping. Though being able to reuse lithium-ion batteries is incredibly important for the electric vehicle industry as well as the energy industry, the company is also working to recover critical materials from other devices, including magnets. It will be interesting to see how this practice grows, and how much it will impact the consumption of lithium batteries, as well as the amount of e-waste they create.

While this is only a start in the fight against electronic waste and the over-consumption of earth’s resources, it will undoubtedly have a greater impact as electric cars become more of the norm for those interested in energy conservation.