Over the last decade, the EV market has exploded.
Experts believe that EVs could hit between 60 and 70% of the market share by 2040.
But, as EV demand grows — so do questions about the efficiency of the EV supply chain
AND concerns about E-Waste.
Sure — there’s recycling, BUT not all recycling methods are created equal.
However, two companies, American Manganese and LiCycle, may have found a solution that
is cheaper AND cleaner than other recycling methods — best of all, it could actually
bring the cost of EVs down!
What’s the method?
How does it work?
And will it really make that big of an impact?
Stick around to find out today on Two Bit Da Vinci.
Right now — when it comes to lifetime emissions, EVs have a huge lead over ICEs… but there
is one area where they actually… fall behind!
Real talk — the supply chain for producing EVs… is a mess.
The process for mining, refining, and manufacturing battery cells requires tons of energy, and
it’s not always the best for the surrounding environment.
And it often takes place in global regions that are not always the most stable politically
or financially.
On top of that — from start to finish, those materials can rack up some mileage — roughly
20,000 nautical miles to be exact.
That’s nearly the entire circumference of the Earth!
Each of these components are subject to so much volatility.
One hiccup can disrupt an entire production line.
Companies like Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes have already had to either slow or completely halt
electric vehicle production in the past year due to supply chain “bottlenecking.”
And each of those steps - well — they come at a price — impacting both the environment
AND your pocketbook.
One study suggests that producing EVs can contribute between 30 and 40% MORE emissions
than producing petrol vehicles.
When it comes to the cost of your EV the battery alone can contribute up to 30% of the total
price, with between 50 and 70% of the battery cost deriving from raw materials.
And that’s all before the vehicle hits the road!
Then there’s the second question of where do all those batteries go once they’re done?
Their toxic and flammable components obviously can’t just go into landfills!
Of course, each of these concerns is mitigated by the fact that EVs produce next to no emissions
during their lifetime.
BUT with the market expected to grow as it is, these are real concerns that deserve to
be addressed.
And that’s exactly what two companies, American Manganese and LiCycle hope to do with their
emerging Lithium-Ion recycling methods.
The key to both of these companies is their application of a battery recycling method
known as hydrometallurgy.
Now that big sciencey-sounding word basically just means breaking down metal components
using water.
The process starts by taking a used battery and “shredding” it — basically stripping
it down to smaller, more manageable pieces.
From there, the shredded battery goes through a “leeching” process — where they’re
exposed to various liquid solvents, chemical precipitants, and electrolysis to separate
out the various elements inside the batteries.
So, you’d have one solvent, for example, that’s particularly good at extracting Nickel.
So you’d dunk the battery material into that solvent, extract the Nickel, then move
it on to another solvent for Cobalt, Manganese, and so forth until you’ve extracted everything
out of the battery that you’d want.
Why does this process matter?
Well, remember, the goal of recycling is to maximize raw materials while hoping to reduce
overall emissions.
If we compare this method to other common battery recycling methods, we can begin to
understand its benefits more clearly.
Another more common method for recycling batteries is sort of the polar opposite of hydrometallurgy…
its pyrometallurgy or sometimes called thermometalluryg.
And, you guessed it, it uses fire to break batteries down.
Basically, you put the batteries in high-temperature furnaces — we’re talking about 1500 degrees
Celcius where the heat reduces the chemical components (copper, cobalt, nickel) into molten
metals in the form of what’s known as “slag.”
That slag then gets sent of to refineries for further processing and recycling.
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.578044/full]
Already I’m sure you could point out a few key issues.
First, just by using fire, pyrometallurgy requires far more energy upfront — which
means some form of fuel to burn.
Whereas with Hydro, you can operate at far lower temperatures.
LiCycle, for instance, keeps everything at an operating temperature of about 230 degrees
F and only for the final stage of drying their main product.
That aspect alone means less energy required.
Remember what Smokey the Bear used to say — where there’s smoke there’s fire?
Well, that’s true with pyrometallurgy as well.
Burning the battery materials can produce toxic dioxins and sulfides which all must
be recovered to abate pollution.
To do that requires bulky, expensive equipment.
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.578044/full]
Hydro generates NO air emissions.
And as far as their water treatment, Licycle reagents are all fully recycled — meaning
they have no discharge from their refining facilities, keeping water emissions to an
absolute minimum.
Perhaps the most egregious aspect of pyro is that it’s not even particularly effective,
recovering only a small amount of useful material, then needing to ship that off to secondary
facilities for further extraction.
Both LiCycle and American Manganese boast between 95 and 99% extraction of precious
materials all while generating significantly fewer emissions.
And best of all the process is significantly less expensive.
Because smelting facilities require so much space, they also need much more capital investment.
Hydro facilities like LiCycle and American Manganese can operate at much smaller scales,
with more units able to add on as need arises.
And it’s that smaller-scale accessibility that really allows these two companies to
address some of the larger issues in the current battery supply chain.
For LiCycle, their plan is to introduce a “Spoke and Hub” model.
Smaller “Spoke” facilities would be strategically placed in areas with high demand for lithium-ion
batteries - this could include urban centers or even co-locate with battery manufacturing
plants.
Spoke facilities are where the battery shredding takes place.
From there, the “black mass” as its called would move to “Hub” facilities for treatment
and refining back into those precious battery materials.
American Manganese has similar goals of placing their refining facilities in or in proximity
to batter manufacturing facilities.
Often in battery manufacturing, you have imperfections — materials that are labeled “off spec,”
which typically has to be disposed of as waste, or placed into the “old school” recycling
supply chain that we laid out above.
But — if battery manufacturers had refining capabilities provided by American Manganese,
they could take those of-spec materials and process them right on the spot and have them
ready to go directly back into the production line.
The company has already begun a pilot plant with a capacity of 500 kilograms per day of
cathode waste materials.
According to the company website, the plant is already achieving 99.7% extraction of lithium,
nickel, manganese, and cobalt with continuous operation.
https://americanmanganeseinc.com/american-manganese-inc-achieves-99-7-extraction-of-lithium-ion-battery-material-with-continuous-operation-of-pilot-plant-project/
Both companies’ methods effectively eliminate that messy, convoluted supply chain process.
Now, a battery manufacturer, let’s say, somewhere in the EU wouldn’t have to go
all the way to the beginning at the mining stage, nor would they need to have materials
shipped from China.
Instead, they could access raw battery materials right in their own neighborhood or possibly
in their own factories!
Now, for every ounce of raw material mined, it has the opportunity to extend its lifespan
significantly while also reducing the process of shipping and refining.
This kind of processing and refining has earned the term “urban mining,” as it essentially
finds those valuable materials in local urban areas rather than extracting them from the
earth.
With efforts like those made by these two companies, we could help ease some of the
pressure on the current supply of raw materials while also reducing the overall footprint
of battery production.
One study even estimates that roughly 65% of the cobalt necessary to satisfy vehicle
demand in the U.S. could be achieved by LIB recycling.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343087669_Key_Challenges_and_Opportunities_for_Recycling_Electric_Vehicle_Battery_Materials
And best of all, it could even help bring the cost of EVs down even further, making
them more accessible.
Some experts suggest that substituting virgin materials with recycled materials could reduce
the total package price by up to 30%.
A 70kWh Tesla Model S battery weighs about 544 kgs using an NCA formulation with the
approximate ratio: 80% nickel, 15% cobalt, and 5% aluminum and about 63 kg of lithium
total.
These battery packs range in price between $12,000 and $13,000
Being able to use recycled materials could theoretically bring the price of a Tesla battery
pack down from around $13,000 to just under $10,000
“So we are, um, closing the loop with respect to lithium-ion batteries.
And then if you even get to a granular level in our whole process, we're closing the loop
as well.
we're doing as much internal recycling as possible within the design.”
[Chris Biederman, who is the CTO of lifecycle]
I’ve often joked that nothing turns gas and coal burning folks into environmentalists
faster than talking about the environmental impact of manufacturing
solar panels, or mining for battery materials.
Now clearly, solar panels can work for decades, and EVs for hundreds of thousands of miles,
unlike burning coal or gasoline for an instant of use.
But as good stewards of the environment and our future generations, it is paramount that
we begin talking about a closed loop system for our future energy and transportation needs.
Imagine being able to recycle all our batteries after decades of use, then just turn them
back around for another life in a brand new cell.
This isn’t some sci-fi future, this is happening now!
Huge thanks to Li-Cycle and American Manganese for chatting with us.
We never figured out how to make a closed loop clean system for gasoline cars and coal
power.
But finally we have that chance now, very early on
in the adoption of lithium ion batteries.
The future couldn’t be brighter.
But as always, we want to hear what you think.
Could hydrometallurgical recycling help close the loop of battery production?
What other methods do you know of that might be another alternative?
Let us know in the comments below
and as always, thanks for watching.