Interesting video by Zack (guy behind the JerryRigEverything channel) about the recycling of Li-ion batteries:
1 Thank
I wonder what percentage is currently being recycled? Good video.
Very interesting. 18,000 tons per year at that plant. Need way more of these.
Wonder how much is discarded each year?
All the Best,
Jeff
I am sure many, many times that amount is being just buried. Yes we need hundreds more of that kind of plant. If it is really profitable, then we should see them.
The initial recycling part is the real problem. So a big part of the population lives within 10 miles of a drop off. Sorry, most people can’t be bothered to drive 10 miles to get rid of a battery or two. The part we really need to work on is to make that process easier, and to train people to do it. Which would mean more available material, more profit, more plants.
Though, maybe, the push for electric cars will be a tipping point. A contract with any of the major car companies to get the old batteries that they replace could be a gold mine.
Yes, excellent video!
Idk. But the battery in an EV weighs somewhere around 1/2 ton. Google says there was 10 million EVs sold worldwide last year.
You always hear them say they’re going to repurpose EV batteries for energy storage and low drain stuff. Get a few more years of use out of them. I think, Ok… and then what? lol
Cool video. Obviously that’s only first step, to separate the elements/compounds will be a more complicated process. Does anyone know if this is a full scale commercial plant or just a large test set-up?
That conveyor belt looks a bit weird- a bunch of small batteries fall down the gap when it starts feeding?! I’m speculating but they probably focus on EV battery recycling rather than the crappy power tools/cell phone batteries- yes all can go in, but on a $profit per Kg input weight, those EV batteries must be much more valuable. If you’ve got to run the shredder and cycle the fluid, light the facility etc, then who wants to process power tool batteries which are full of plastic?! 
Skimming plastic off the top is logical… what I’m not sure about, is how they separate the other two products, perhaps it’s just a function of particle size?
I’d imagine cell casing, busbars, terminals etc were “big” before they went through the shredder and then are c.5-10mm sized pieces after, whereas the lithium/nickel/cobalt forms the “jelly” inside which has partical size from original cell production of (guessing) sub-mm to couple of microns.
The filter press thing is pretty normal equipment, I’ve seen much larger one used at a lead/zinc mine, though I’m amazed the dudes here go along beating the filters off, last I saw had big shaker/vibrator so could run automatically… Fill, squeeze, open, shake, repeat.
On the comment about air pollution, not sure where he gets the idea that recycling involves burning?! Perhaps smelting, but that would happen in subsequent steps.
To be a bit of a pedant, the statement: “lithium, cobalt and other precious metals” is erroneous as they’re commonly either referred to as base metals (copper) or more trendy “energy metals” (lithium, cobalt). The “sweet” metals (???) he refers to (Gold, platinum etc ) are traditionally the “precious” metals.
Interesting that 95% ends up in bags… Where’s the remaining 5% going?! Perhaps this is the electrolyte? Does anyonw know the %mass of electrolyte in a battery?
Probably “recycle” them into cheap e-scooters and such.
Once they burn up, they’re out of the recycling chain.