Argonne, Toyota Collaborate on Cutting-Edge Battery Recycling Process
April 30 2024 - 4:10PM
Business Wire
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National
Laboratory has recently launched a collaboration with Toyota Motor
North America that could reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign
sources of battery materials.
Argonne, Toyota Research Institute of North America, and
Toyota’s Battery Lifecycle Solutions group are exploring an
innovative approach to recycling battery components. If successful,
this effort can make domestic battery supply chains more robust and
circular. That in turn can enable rapid deployment of electric
vehicles (EVs) in the U.S.
In most battery recycling today, the chemical structure of
end-of-life battery components is broken down into the raw
materials used in manufacturing. Unlike this traditional approach,
a technique called direct recycling carefully extracts components
from spent batteries. The components’ original structure is
retained. If done well, manufacturers can re-use the components,
reducing costs and waste.
Argonne and Toyota Motor North America have signed a Cooperative
Research and Development Agreement to develop a direct recycling
process for cathodes (positive electrodes) in lithium-ion
batteries, which are prevalent in EVs. In particular, the team is
looking at cathodes made of nickel, manganese and cobalt.
The collaboration is taking advantage of an effective,
patent-pending direct recycling process developed by the
Argonne-based ReCell Center. The process uses a magnet to separate
cathodes and anodes (negative electrodes) from batteries.
Toyota is providing Argonne with Toyota plug-in hybrid EV
batteries. Argonne researchers will apply ReCell’s direct recycling
process to Toyota’s battery cells, extracting and regenerating the
cathode material. The team will test various aspects of the
cathodes’ performance in coin cells.
If the cells perform well, Argonne will scale up the process,
build larger pouch cells from the extracted cathodes, and test the
cells’ performance. In parallel, Toyota will use its own research
facilities to build and test cells.
The team will compare the performance of the recycled cathodes
with the performance of new, pristine cathodes. The team will also
use Argonne’s EverBatt model to evaluate the costs and
environmental effects of applying the direct recycling process to
Toyota’s batteries.
“Our goal is to prove that the process can make high-performing
cathodes cost-effectively while reducing energy use and emissions,”
said Argonne Principal Materials Scientist Albert Lipson. “If we’re
successful, EV and battery manufacturers can potentially
commercialize the process.”
The research project is part of the ReCell Center, which is
supported by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office.
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Christopher J. Kramer Head of Media Relations Argonne National
Laboratory Office: 630.252.5580 Email: media@anl.gov