Sumitomo develops rechargeable battery recycling technology
TOKYO – Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining said on Monday it had developed a technology to recover nickel and cobalt from rechargeable batteries such as used lithium-ion-batteries (LIBs) that can be reused as raw materials for LIBs.
Japan's biggest nickel smelter, which has been able to recover nickel and copper from rechargeable batteries since 2017, has successfully recovered a high-purity nickel-cobalt mix by separating impurities, it said in a statement.
After manufacturing and evaluating LIB cathode material from the recycled nickel-cobalt mixture, experiments have shown the performance of the batteries was equivalent to those made using raw materials derived from natural resources.
"No commercialisation plans have been set yet, but we will continue to work on the development toward making it commercially viable," a company spokesperson said.
Sumitomo Metal supplies nickel-based cathode materials for Panasonic's LIBs that are used in Tesla Inc electric vehicles (EVs).
The smelter has also produced a soluble slag that enables lithium recovery by a smelting process in demonstration, it said, helping to establish a new recycling process for copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium from used rechargeable batteries.
As the world moves to meet stringent targets for cutting carbon emissions - partly by phasing out internal-combustion-engine cars - demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel vital for electric vehicle batteries is set to soar, raising the prospect of shortages.
Securing stable supplies is a major challenge as production regions for these rare metals are unevenly distributed, which makes demand for recycling greater.
"If we can commercialize this 'battery to battery' recycling process, we can contribute to a formation of sustainable circular economy and response to global resource depletion," Sumitomo Metal said.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation