BASF Battery Recycling Presentation - How does hydrometallurgical battery recycling work?

Summary

This presentation focuses on the recycling of electric vehicle batteries, emphasizing the need for an efficient and circular economy to reclaim valuable metals like nickel, cobalt, and lithium. BASF's innovative hydrometallurgical process aims to recover battery-grade lithium hydroxide directly, improving recycling efficiency while reducing waste. The presenter highlights the challenges and innovations involved, such as the purification of contaminants like fluoride. With pilot trials concluded and plans for a pilot plant in 2022, BASF aims to advance battery recycling technology, addressing both ecological and economic concerns in the growing electric vehicle market.

Takeaways

• 🔋 Electric vehicles are crucial for a climate-neutral society, and their batteries contain valuable materials like nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium.
• ♻️ By 2030, 1.6 million tons of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries are expected, necessitating efficient recycling solutions.
• 🔧 Battery recycling involves disassembling, shredding, and sorting batteries to extract metals like copper, aluminum, and the key active materials in the 'black mass.'
• ⚫ 'Black mass' contains valuable metals like graphite, nickel, cobalt, and lithium, but also has contaminants, requiring further chemical processing.
• 🔥 Pyrometallurgy heats the black mass to 1500°C, melting valuable metals, but lithium ends up in the slag, making it inefficient for lithium recovery.
• 💧 Hydrometallurgy uses sulfuric acid at moderate temperatures to extract nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium, but is more complex and costly.
• 🧪 BASF's recycling process focuses on hydrometallurgy and aims to selectively extract high-quality battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
• 🌱 BASF's lithium extraction process minimizes carbon footprint and sodium sulfate byproducts, enhancing sustainability.
• 🔍 Removing fluoride and other contaminants from lithium hydroxide is critical for maintaining battery performance and longevity.
• 🏗️ BASF plans to build a pilot plant for this process by 2022 in Schweitzer, Europe, aiming to scale up the technology for global battery recycling.

Q & A

What is the significance of battery recycling in the context of electromobility?

Battery recycling is crucial for electromobility as it contributes to a circular economy and helps in achieving a climate-neutral society by ensuring the efficient reuse of valuable materials from electric vehicle batteries.

What are the key components of an electric vehicle battery?

The key components of an electric vehicle battery include two electrodes, an anode made of graphite and a cathode made with materials such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium, along with a separator to prevent short circuits and an electrolyte for charge exchange.

By what year is it predicted that 1.6 million tons of end-of-life batteries will be generated?

According to a Bloomberg study, by 2030, it is expected that 1.6 million tons of end-of-life batteries will be generated.

What is the economic importance of recycling battery packs?

Battery packs contain valuable metals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and about 160,000 tons of these metals, which is approximately 10 percent of the overall waste amount, making their recycling economically significant.

What is the 'black mass' mentioned in the script?

The 'black mass' is the product of mechanical processing of used batteries, which contains the active materials of the battery, including carbon or graphite from the anode and valuable materials from the cathode, along with various contaminations.

What are the two primary methods for processing the 'black mass' from used batteries?

The two primary methods for processing the 'black mass' are pyrometallurgy, which involves heating the material to high temperatures in a smelter, and hydrometallurgy, which takes place at moderate temperatures in an aqueous sulfuric acid solution.

Why is lithium not considered a precious metal in the context of pyrometallurgy?

Lithium is not considered a precious metal in pyrometallurgy because it ends up in the slag, which is typically sold to the construction industry, making its recovery less economically viable compared to other metals like nickel and cobalt.

What is BASF's approach to improving lithium yield and reducing the carbon footprint in battery recycling?

BASF's approach involves a hydrometallurgical process that directly extracts lithium hydroxide from the black mass, avoiding the formation of sodium sulfate and additional steps required to convert lithium carbonate into lithium hydroxide, thus reducing the carbon footprint.

What challenges does BASF face in purifying lithium hydroxide to battery-grade quality?

BASF faces challenges in removing contaminants to a two-digit ppm level from lithium hydroxide to ensure battery quality and performance. Fluoride, in particular, is challenging to remove beyond a certain point as it becomes part of the crystal structure of lithium hydroxide.

What is the current status of BASF's pilot plant for battery recycling, and when is it planned to start?

As of the presentation, BASF is preparing the pilot plant, which is planned to be commissioned in 2022. The pilot plant will be used to demonstrate the entire process and determine the parameters needed for large-scale production.

How does BASF plan to scale up its battery recycling process from pilot trials to global implementation?

BASF plans to scale up its battery recycling process by first focusing on Europe, using the pilot plant to demonstrate the process and gather data for large-scale production. The goal is to eventually make battery recycling a global reality.

Outlines

00:00

🔋 Overview of Battery Materials and Recycling Challenge

The speaker introduces the importance of battery recycling in the context of the growing demand for electric vehicles. With electric mobility being crucial for a climate-neutral society, the focus is on the valuable and critical materials in batteries, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium. By 2030, a significant number of end-of-life batteries will require recycling, highlighting the need to develop economically and ecologically viable processes now. The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking proactive steps rather than waiting until the recycling demand peaks.

05:01

♻️ Black Mass and Recycling Methods

The speaker describes the concept of black mass, the material left after used batteries are disassembled and shredded. It contains valuable materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium but is contaminated with other metals and elements like fluorine. Two primary methods for processing black mass are introduced: pyrometallurgy, which uses smelting to extract metals but results in lithium loss, and hydrometallurgy, which allows for the extraction of all key materials, including lithium, but requires multiple steps and significant investment.

10:02

🔧 Hydrometallurgy Process for Efficient Battery Recycling

Hydrometallurgy, an existing and widely used process for extracting metals such as cobalt and nickel from mines, is adapted to battery recycling. However, lithium presents new challenges as it is not typically found near cobalt and nickel sources. The process focuses on extracting lithium as lithium hydroxide directly from the black mass, which avoids byproduct formation and extra steps required in traditional processes. This innovative approach aims to reduce costs and improve efficiency in producing materials for modern electric vehicle batteries.

15:03

🧪 Challenges and Innovations in Lithium Hydroxide Extraction

The speaker highlights the importance of producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide by removing contaminants like fluoride, which is difficult to eliminate through crystallization. BASF leverages its extensive portfolio of purification technologies, including ion exchange and absorption, to tackle these challenges. The speaker shares that BASF has successfully passed proof of concept in the lab and is now moving toward scaling the process for industrial use.

20:15

🏭 Pilot Plant for Battery Recycling Innovation

A question is raised about the timeline for the BASF pilot plant dedicated to battery recycling. The speaker confirms that the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2022, with detailed planning and construction currently underway. The plant is to be built in Schweitzer, and its goal is to demonstrate the recycling process in its entirety and prepare for large-scale production.

Keywords

💡Battery Recycling

Battery recycling refers to the process of reclaiming materials from used batteries to reuse them in new battery production. This is a central theme of the video, which discusses the importance of establishing efficient recycling systems for electric vehicle batteries to recover valuable metals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The video emphasizes the need to recycle the expected 1.6 million tons of end-of-life batteries by 2030.

💡Electromobility

Electromobility refers to the use of electric vehicles (EVs) as a means of transportation. The video highlights electromobility as a key technology for achieving a climate-neutral society, stressing the growing number of EVs and the importance of battery recycling in sustaining this trend. As the number of EVs increases, so does the demand for sustainable battery solutions.

💡Black Mass

Black mass is the intermediate product formed during the recycling process of lithium-ion batteries. It contains valuable materials such as graphite, nickel, cobalt, and lithium, which are essential for battery production. The video explains how black mass is produced by shredding and processing used batteries and describes its importance in recovering metals for reuse in new batteries.

💡Hydrometallurgy

Hydrometallurgy is a chemical process used in battery recycling to extract valuable metals from black mass using sulfuric acid. The video explains that this method allows for the separation and recovery of metals like nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium at moderate temperatures. BASF's innovation in hydrometallurgy focuses on improving lithium recovery efficiency and reducing by-products.

💡Pyrometallurgy

Pyrometallurgy is a high-temperature process used to extract metals from black mass by smelting. The video describes how the process melts metals like nickel, cobalt, and copper, while lithium ends up in slag, making it less efficient for lithium recovery. Although pyrometallurgy produces clean metals, it is criticized for its higher energy consumption and carbon footprint.

💡Circular Economy

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at minimizing waste and making the most of resources by reusing and recycling materials. The video emphasizes the importance of creating a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries, where materials are recycled and reused, reducing the need for new raw material extraction and lowering the overall environmental impact.

💡Nickel, Cobalt, and Lithium

Nickel, cobalt, and lithium are key components of electric vehicle batteries, especially in the cathode. The video stresses the critical importance of recovering these metals through battery recycling to support the growing demand for electric vehicles. These metals are valuable and scarce, making their efficient recovery crucial for future battery production.

💡End-of-Life Batteries

End-of-life batteries are batteries that have reached the end of their usable lifespan and need to be recycled. The video discusses the growing volume of these batteries, particularly in electric vehicles, and the need for efficient recycling processes to manage the expected 1.6 million tons of end-of-life batteries by 2030. Proper recycling prevents waste and recovers valuable materials.

💡Lithium Hydroxide

Lithium hydroxide is a key chemical used in modern battery production, especially for electric vehicles. The video highlights BASF's innovative process to extract lithium hydroxide directly from black mass, which is more efficient and reduces carbon emissions compared to traditional methods. This process is essential for creating high-quality battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

💡Carbon Footprint

Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, emitted by a process or product. The video underscores the importance of reducing the carbon footprint in the battery recycling process, particularly through innovations in hydrometallurgy and lithium extraction, which aim to lower energy use and emissions during recycling.

Highlights

The importance of battery recycling in achieving a circular economy for electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles rely heavily on batteries with key components like graphite for the anode, and nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium for the cathode.

By 2030, 1.6 million tons of end-of-life batteries are expected, creating an urgent need for efficient recycling processes.

End-of-life batteries will need to be recycled both economically and ecologically, as they contain valuable materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt.

Off-spec materials from battery production will also increase significantly by 2025, adding pressure on the recycling industry.

The black mass is the result of mechanical battery processing, containing valuable materials like carbon, nickel, cobalt, and lithium.

Two recycling methods for black mass: pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Pyrometallurgy is energy-intensive, while hydrometallurgy allows recycling of all key metals, including lithium.

Hydrometallurgy, though effective, requires multiple steps and is costly. Innovation is needed to improve lithium recovery and minimize waste.

BASF’s recycling process focuses on hydrometallurgy and enables high-efficiency separation of key materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium.

A major innovation by BASF: direct extraction of lithium hydroxide from the black mass, avoiding inefficient intermediate steps.

This direct lithium hydroxide extraction process reduces the carbon footprint and prevents the formation of unnecessary byproducts like sodium sulfate.

The process also enables better integration into traditional metal refineries, streamlining the recycling chain.

A significant challenge is reducing fluoride contamination during lithium hydroxide crystallization, as it affects battery performance.

BASF uses advanced purification techniques to achieve battery-grade lithium hydroxide, ensuring the quality of next-generation batteries.

BASF plans to build a pilot plant for this process, with construction starting in 2021 and operations beginning in 2022.

Transcripts

thank you martin so

so now it's time to move on to our next

um presentation so feel dank for the

fraga

thank you very much for the question i

would like to give the floor to ms

shirley and she's going to talk about

this cycle and how it is going to be

closed with battery materials

well miss schwab thank you very much for

the friendly introduction

dear people who are interested in

science

the home there and your monitors and

screens i'm really looking forward to

being part

of this very exciting format and talk

about battery recycling today

the electro mobility is one of the key

technologies on our way

towards a climate neutral society

the number of electric vehicles is

growing

day by day a key element of the electric

car

is its battery and the key components of

the battery

are two electrodes an anode and a

cathode

the anode is made up of graphite where

the cathode

should come with basf battery materials

including nickel cobalt manganese

and lithium which are both valuable

and critical the battery

is assembled by placing a separator

between the anode and the cathode

which prevents a short circuit from

happening

and the charge exchange

is intruded by an electrolyte which

contains a solvent unfortunately

electric vehicles and their batteries

are not forever

at the end of their life they come back

bloomberg has found out in a study that

by 2030

1.6 million tons of end-of-life

batteries are to be expected

and these end of life batteries

will have to be recycled in

a practical way

this must make sense from an economic as

well an ecological

standpoint economical standpoint means

you need the right cycles in place

these battery packs contain 160 000

tons of those valuable metals lithium

nickel cobalt and this is about

10 percent of the overall waste amount

so now is the time to develop the right

processes

as long as there aren't all that many

battery cells

in need of recycling so we shouldn't sit

back and take our time up until 2030

because

add to the end-of-life battery

the off-spec materials from battery

production

these are materials that are produced

while

the production of batteries is ramped up

and

this is why we expect significant

quantities of such off spec materials by

2025

so it's about time for industry to close

this loop

at the beginning of the cycle we have

the material from the mines

nickel cobalt manganese and lithium

a chemical transformation turns them

into the cathodic materials that are so

important for the batteries

these materials end up in the battery

cell the battery cell is integrated in a

battery the battery is then installed

in the car in order to ensure an

efficient recycling and an efficient

circular economy

these batteries will have to be

collected at the end of their lives and

they will have to be

processed in such a way as to enable

extraction of those materials

so it's absolutely vital to find

an efficient solution here this is a

challenge

for the industry and we as researchers

have a lot to contribute here

a key intermediate product here is the

so-called black

mass which i would like to explain to

you

in some more detail this black mass is

the product of

mechanical processing of used batteries

after collecting the batteries are

disassembled

shredded and sorted

and in this process the metals

that are available in the battery as an

elementary

stage like the copper and aluminum

contacts or the casings made of steel

they can be removed directly and can put

into classical recycling cycles

plastic can be removed in the same way

and what is left is the black mass that

you see in this picture

on the right this black mask contains

the active materials of the battery

they include carbon or graphite from the

anode

and the valuable materials from the

cathode

here we focus in particular on nickel

cobalt and lithium

as you can see in this table there is a

lot more to it

we have a large number of contaminations

with

other metals this is due to the fact

that the sorting step

is not overly precise or clean

and in addition we have elements such as

fluorine it is used in the binder that

is needed to assemble the battery and

it's also part of the electrolyte

you can imagine that we cannot just take

this material

and turn it into a new battery no

instead the black

mass will have to be processed

chemically in such a way as to

enable a meaningful separation

and recycling of the individual

materials there are two ways to do that

pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy

pyrometallurgy means that the black mass

or a battery module or several battery

modules

are put into a smelter the smelter

heats it up to about 1500 degrees

centigrade the graphite burns

this provides part of the combustion

energy

but it also increases the carbon

footprint

the precious metals such as nickel

cobalt and copper

are molten and they form an alloy

this alloy can then be separated

and can be split into the individual

components

so this process provides extremely clean

cobalt nickel and copper

and it provides a high yield too the

less noble metals and the contaminations

are separated as slug

at additional substances the slag

formers

are added in order to separate

those slag materials unfortunately

lithium is not a precious metal

chemically

speaking even though it's a valuable

metal and that's why lithium ends up in

the slag here

slag is something that you typically

sell to

the construction industry and it's such

a pity to sell the lithium away with the

rest of the slag

it can be separated but this is very

time consuming

and not very energy efficient

secondly we have hydrometallogy it takes

place at moderate temperatures

in an aqueous sulfuric acid solution

hydromatology can recycle nickel cobalt

and copper as

well as lithium

however hydrometalogy

needs several steps comprises several

steps and that means

a high investment is needed second

some by-products or waste products are

produced

however please note that there are

processes

useful for recycling batteries

nevertheless there is still some need

for innovation with a view to the

lithium

yield the capital cost and the byproduct

range

basf's product process

is based on hydrometalogy and i'm now

going to give you a deep dive

into hydrometallogy at first sight you

can see that there are several

steps each involving a lot of chemistry

so that fits basf pretty well you

pre-treat

the black mass you apply heat treatment

to it

organic components are destroyed

as is part of the fluoride

in the second step the metals are

leeched with the help of sulfuric acid

and as a result you have a sulfuric

solution containing all those metals

that can be

further processed and the metals can be

extracted

individually the chemists among you

may remember the university studies that

taught them the underlying processes

and steps toward the end

of the chain we pick out our cathodic

materials cobalt

nickel and at the very end lithium

now this process chain up to cobalt and

nickel

exists in many places around the globe

namely in metal refineries this is how

cobalt and nickel

from the mines are treated and purified

so there is a lot of technology know how

around

there is the relevant expertise and

reliable tried and tested processes

that we can base the new process on of

course we have to make some adjustments

but you don't have to reinvent the wheel

for lithium it's a little different

because normally you don't find

lithium near the places where you find

nickel and cobalt so this is something

new for us

and this is the point where

we still have a lot of room for

improvement

lithium is extracted in the end

as a carbonate which however is not

easy to solve but it's the best way of

precipitating this lithium from our

sulfuric acid solution

so this doesn't give you much freedom

to do otherwise if you precipitate

lithium carbonate

you have 10 tonnes of

sodium sulfate and other byproducts for

each ton of lithium

so this is not very efficient but if you

use this process to produce cathodic

materials this

already is sufficient to lower the

carbon footprint of those cathodic

materials by 25

so this is good for us it's good for the

environment

and it is good for our customers in the

automotive industry because they keep

looking out for ways to improve their

carbon footprint

it won't come as a surprise to you if i

say that

our research is mainly focused on

lithium because this

is where we see the biggest potential

for innovation

in the classical approach you finally

have

lithium carbonate and sodium sulfate as

a byproduct

that's the standard process but modern

battery materials don't want to use

lithium carbonate

you want lithium hydroxide to make a

modern car battery

of course lithium carbonate can be

converted into lithium hydroxide but

this means yet an

additional step an additional investment

and it means additional chemicals

are required and this in turn means that

your carbon footprint increases

our process and our research tackles

exactly this problem we have developed

the process

to extract the lithium hydroxide

directly

a side effect of this is that you can

extract the lithium first at the very

front of the chain and this gives us

more flexibility

in building the value chain this is what

our process looks like

in the first step we mobilize lithium

in the black mass in the second step

we leach the lithium selectively

in its format as lithium hydroxide

what remains is a black mass containing

everything that was in there before

minus lithium

this black mass can then

be put into a hydrometallurgic

plant for further isolation of cobalt

and nickel

due to this direct lithium hydroxide

extraction process

a sodium sulfate formation is avoided

completely

and we save the additional steps

required to turn

lithium carbonate into lithium hydroxide

by picking the lithium out at the very

beginning

we have the chance of coupling this

process with classical metal refineries

and this

in turn in table enables us

to build the value chain in a simple and

easy way

and in a flexible way so now we have a

flexible way of reducing the carbon

footprint

vis-a-vis classical hydro metallurgy

considerably

it isn't quite as simple as it sounds

the devil's in the detail we don't want

to produce just any kind of lithium

hydroxide we want to have

battery grade lithium hydroxide

so we have to remove

contamination to a two digit ppm

level because if we leave the

contaminants in there

the quality and operation and useful

life of the battery

will be impaired and that's a no go

now here you see what elements in our

highly selective lithium process

are nevertheless still present towards

the end

and we have to do something about these

if a chemist wants to

purify the chemist crystallizes

lithium hydroxide is crystallized

carefully

out of the solution and the contaminants

stay back in the solution it all works

very well

for most elements that we see here but

it doesn't work well

for fluoride because

fluoride

can be removed by way of crystallization

but

only to a certain point from this point

onward the fluoride is made part and

parcel

of the crystal structure of the lithium

hydroxide and it is more fluoride than

we would like to see in our battery

materials

fortunately at basf we have a rich

portfolio of purification technologies

we work for so many industries including

the electronics industry which

is extremely demanding in this respect

and this is why we used our existing

portfolio to develop something new

for iron exchange and absorption

we opted for these technologies and they

enable us to reduce the fluoride content

to the desired level

[Music]

we actually passed the proof of concept

in the lab and we're in the process

of upscaling our process now let me

summarize

what path have we come along and what

challenges

have we been able to cope with

we have talked about how important

efficient lithium recycling is for a

circular battery economy

it is addressed by means of our lithium

hydroxide first process

it enables us to achieve a high yield of

lithium

of course we had to play around with our

process conditions

quite a while in order to really get to

such

maximum yield and to what is also

important

is a high quality of lithium because

only if we have battery grade lithium

will it be able

to go into the next generation of

batteries

and we get there by using complementary

purification technologies in total

basf's innovations are going to

contribute

to build an efficient battery cycle

having said this i would like to pick up

on the

picture i showed you at the very

beginning i think i have been able to

show you that we are on a good track of

optimizing this cycle of improving it by

means of innovative processes

but innovative processes are not enough

it also

takes good partnerships along the value

chain and we are in an excellent

position here at basf together with our

partner networks

we can offer battery material recycling

even today now how can we move on from

here

this year we have successfully concluded

pilot trials we have developed our flow

sheet for the process

and we are in the process of preparing a

pilot plant to be constructed

in 2021 and start it up in 2022

using this pilot plant we want to show

the process

in its entirety want to demonstrate how

it works and we want to find out about

the process parameters needed for

large-scale production

to begin with we will focus our work on

europe

later on we will globally make

battery recycling a reality and this is

the end of my presentation

i am willing to take any questions you

may have

thank you very much miss schiele this

was truly an exciting presentation

and ms schiele is available for any

questions you may have

if you have any question to our expert

please push the asterisk

and one button in order to get through

to us

let's wait for another brief moment

maybe

some more questions will come in

so far we can't see any questions

ah the first questions seem to be coming

in now

has a question good morning

i have a question for clarification the

pilot plant is to

be started in 2022 is that correct yes

that's our plan

we are in the process of preparing the

pilot plant

of course it requires detailed planning

and then construction will take its time

too so we plan to commission it in 2022

and where is it supposed to be built

it's supposed to be built in schweitzer

you