EVanBatter – Development of a resynthesis route of active materials for lithium-ion batteries that is robust against impurities

In order to close material loops in the framework of battery cell production and to reduce costs and environmental impacts along the product life cycle, the recycling of end-of-life (EoL) battery cell materials is urgently needed. Bearing this in mind, the goal of the EVanBatter project is to develop efficient and robust processes for the multiple conversion of recovered raw materials (secondary raw materials) from other cluster projects, e.g. EarLiMet, PyroLith, LOWVOLMON and Action, in order to bring both active materials from the cathode and anode into the process cycle of electrode production again. Within the battery cycle, the establishment of recycling concepts is accompanied by the continuous progress of battery technologies. Due to the advancements in battery chemistries, flexible processes that are insensitive to impurities are essential to ensure consistent product quality. Within the scope of this project, a catalogue of requirements will be produced for recycled raw materials, derived from the expertise of the partners and the requirements necessary for the corresponding industrial application. Hydrometallurgical processes for the high-quality recovery of the valuable metals from the black mass will be further developed in order to remove impurities, extract the valuable metals as high-purity metal salts and transfer them to resynthesis routes. The influence of the impurities of various black metals on the electrochemical performance and the battery cell product will be investigated and evaluated with the perspective of a proper usability of recovered materials in the resynthesis. As a result, recommendations for the industry will be proposed, especially with regard to necessary material and substance qualities at the end of the recycling processes, as well as the ecological and economic evaluation of the technologies. Resynthesis and upgrading (metal salts and graphite) will be investigated via efficient and flexible processes in order to evaluate scalable routes depending on the product quality. Overarching, systematic analysis and evaluation of EoL lifecycle phases will be performed along the entire process development to identify cost and environmental impacts and drive a sustainable battery cell production. The overall goal of the EVanBatter project is to iterate and evaluate the derived findings on material and substance qualities from the different recycling routes during the project lifetime with the upstream and downstream cluster projects, such as EarLiMet, PyroLith, LOWVOLMON and ecoLiga. The exchange of information between the projects will allow a constant sharpening of the recycling targets and adjustments in the evaluation of the economic viability of resynthesis processes.