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U.S. Targets 90% Recycling Rate for Lithium-Ion Batteries
The U.S. aims to improve the recyclability and reuse of lithium-ion batteries from less than 5% today to 90% in coming years.
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The U.S. aims to improve the recyclability and reuse of lithium-ion batteries from less than 5% today to 90% in coming years.
To help spur development, the Dept. of Energy is forming a Battery R&D Recycling Center that will be operated by national labs in Illinois and Tennessee. DOE is investing $15 million in the project.
DOE also is sponsoring a battery recycling prize that will award $5.5 million to winners in three stages. The prize encourages participants to develop innovative technologies for collecting, storing and recycling lithium-ion batteries.
The DOE initiatives focus on reclaiming and recycling cobalt and lithium materials from batteries used in automotive, consumer electronics, defense and energy storage applications. Prices of the two materials have spiked in recent years as global demand for batteries used in cell phones to electrified vehicles increase.
The world’s largest producers of lithium are Australia, Chile and Argentina. Congo is the largest supplier of cobalt, with the country’s mines accounting for more than 60% of global output.
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