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Growth in car batteries
rocks the recycler’s boat
The arrival and growing presence of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in
consumer products, notably vehicles, has changed the game forever
for battery recyclers. Industry specialists gathered in Salzburg,
Austria, for the annual International Congress for Battery Recycling
(ICBR) to take discuss best practice and, crucially, the next recycling
revolution.
Multi-Million robotic hub
Weeber enthusiastically presented the
results of an R&D project he is work-
ing on called DemoBat. The mission is
to develop a robot-assisted disman-
tling factory for traction batteries and
electric motors recovered from EVs.
This facility will be built in the Baden-
Württemberg area, known as ‘the
birthplace of the automotive industry’.
The venture is backed with EUR 13
million of funding from the German
government. The automated recycling
solution starts with the R&D team
‘chopping up’ the cells, followed by
metal leaching steps. ‘We use a water-
based process that is environmentally
friendly,’ Weeber says. ‘I think we can
extend our disassembly solution to
similar applications such as power
tools and e-bikes, too.’
He acknowledges that disassembly is
a challenging field. ‘We’re talking
about opening parts of the car and
handling the deeply integrated bat-
tery – a complicated product that
comes in different types and must be
handled with great care.’ Other, more
destructive, processes are being used
at the moment and Weeber hopes the
EU Battery Directive will promote
more sustainable and well-defined dis-
assembly methods.
the best strategy?
While automated systems may require
a bigger initial investment from recy-
clers, the researcher is certain they
achieve better results than manual
processes. ‘Employees are more
trained and versatile than a robot
could ever be – but not as quick,’ he
argues. ‘And let’s not forget about the
dangers to workers and the costs of
maximising worker safety.’
There are still no consistent strategies
for dealing with used vehicle batteries
and this alone makes smart battery
recycling systems a ‘must’ in the
future.
‘Design has always focussed on the
production and consumption side of
things rather than having a battery-
driven product that is designed for an
optimal after-life,’ Weeber laments.
‘Leading brands need to think bigger
and consider remanufacturing in their
‘We don’t know the exact number of
vehicles coming onto the market in the
coming years or, subsequently, the bat-
tery materials available to recyclers: we
don’t have a glass ball,’ Max Weeber
of Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute told
ICBR delegates in Salzburg. Growing
market figures, though, indicate it’s
fair to assume that recyclers will have
plenty of electric vehicles (EVs) to pro-
cess.
A u T h o R Kirstin Linnenkoper
16-17-18-19-20-21_batteryrecyclingupdate.indd 16 29-09-20 08:54
