The number of vehicles with electric drives is increasing, and with it the amount of used batteries to be recycled. Valuable lithium, cobalt, manganese and nickel can be recovered from the battery and reused to produce new batteries. Automated recycling makes it possible to reuse these rare minerals economically and cleanly. We play a key role in driving forward the development of cost-effective concepts.
Most batteries in electric vehicles are lithium-ion batteries. It is important to dispose of them properly in order to prevent risks to people and the environment. New concepts for recycling and recovering raw materials support industry in this. Various combinations of mechanical, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes are used to recycle the battery materials.
In many states and countries, proper disposal has already become mandatory. In Europe, the EU Battery Directive requires manufacturers to recycle or return batteries. Recycling is mandatory in California.
We are working intensively on the realization of innovative automation processes. The hydrometallurgical recycling process, for example, is a chemical precipitation method using acid. Rare minerals are extracted from the black mass as metal salt. These minerals are supplied to battery manufacturers, who reuse them for the production of new batteries.