This critical mineral could be the next frontier in EV battery recycli

As increasingly more People embrace electrical automobiles, automakers and the federal authorities are racing to safe the supplies wanted to construct EV batteries, together with by pouring billions of {dollars} into battery recycling. At this time, recyclers are targeted on recovering worthwhile metals like nickel and cobalt from spent lithium-ion batteries. However with the commerce conflict between the U.S. and China escalating, some are actually taking a more in-depth take a look at one other battery mineral that in the present day’s recycling processes deal with as little greater than waste.

On December 1, China applied new export controls on graphite, the carbon-based mineral that’s finest recognized for being utilized in pencils however that’s additionally utilized in a extra refined kind in industrial EV battery anodes. The brand new insurance policies, which the Chinese language authorities announced in October shortly after the Biden administration increased restrictions on exports of superior semiconductors to China, have alarmed U.S. lawmakers and raised concerns that battery makers outdoors of China will face new challenges securing the supplies wanted for anodes. At this time, China dominates every step of the battery anode supply chain, from graphite mining and artificial graphite manufacturing to anode manufacturing.

Together with a brand new federal tax credit score that rewards automakers that use minerals produced in America, China’s export controls are boosting the U.S. auto business’s curiosity in domestically sourced graphite. However whereas it may take a few years to arrange new graphite mines and manufacturing services, there’s one other, probably quicker choice: Harvesting graphite from lifeless batteries. As U.S. battery recyclers construct massive new services to recuperate expensive battery metals, some are additionally attempting to determine recycle battery-grade graphite — one thing that isn’t finished at scale wherever on this planet in the present day as a result of technical and financial limitations. These corporations are being aided by the U.S. Division of Vitality, which is now pouring tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} into graphite recycling initiatives geared toward answering fundamental analysis questions and launching demonstration vegetation.

If the challenges holding again industrial graphite recycling might be overcome, “the used graphite stream might be large,” Matt Keyser, who manages the electrochemical power storage group on the the Division of Vitality’s Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory, instructed Grist. Along with boosting home provides, recycling graphite would forestall important battery sources from being wasted and will cut back the carbon emissions tied to battery manufacturing.

To grasp why graphite is difficult to recycle, a bit of fabric science is critical. Graphite is a mineral type of carbon that has each metallic and non-metallic properties, together with excessive electrical and thermal conductivity and chemical inertness. These qualities make it helpful for a wide range of power and industrial purposes, together with storing power inside lithium-ion batteries. Whereas a lithium-ion battery is charging, lithium ions circulation from the metallic cathode into the graphite anode, embedding themselves between crystalline layers of the carbon atoms. These ions are launched whereas the battery is in use, producing {an electrical} present.

Graphite might be present in nature as crystalline flakes or plenty, that are mined after which processed to supply the small, spherical particles wanted for anode manufacturing. Graphite can be produced synthetically by heating byproducts of coal or petroleum manufacturing to temperatures better than 2,500 levels Celsius (about 4,500 levels Fahrenheit) — an energy-intensive (and sometimes emissions-intensive) course of that triggers “graphitization” of the carbon atoms. 

Comparatively low-cost to mine or manufacture, graphite is decrease in worth than most of the metals inside battery cathodes, which may embrace lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Due to this, battery recyclers historically haven’t taken a lot curiosity in it. As a substitute, with many battery recyclers hailing from the metals-refining enterprise, they’ve targeted on what they already knew do: extracting and purifying these cathode metals, usually of their elemental kind. Graphite, which may comprise as much as 30% of an EV battery by weight, is handled as a byproduct, with recyclers both burning it for power or separating it out to be landfilled.

“Up till not too long ago, folks speaking about recycling for batteries actually went after these token [metal] components as a result of they have been excessive worth . . . and since that recycling course of can overlap fairly a bit with standard metallic processing,” Ryan Melsert, the CEO of U.S. battery supplies startup American Battery Know-how Firm, instructed Grist.

For graphite recycling to be worthwhile, recyclers must acquire a high-performance, battery-grade product. To take action, they want strategies that separate the graphite from every little thing else, take away any contaminants like metals and glues, and restore the fabric’s unique geometric construction, one thing that’s usually finished by making use of intense heat.

Crude recycling approaches like pyrometallurgy, a conventional course of through which batteries are smelted in a furnace, gained’t work for graphite. “Greater than probably you’re going to burn off the graphite” utilizing pyrometallurgy, Keyser stated.

At this time, the battery recycling business is shifting away from pyrometallurgy and embracing hydrometallurgical approaches, through which lifeless batteries are shredded and dissolved in chemical options to extract and purify numerous metals. Chemical extraction approaches might be tailored for graphite purification, though there are nonetheless “logistical points,” in line with Keyser. Most hydrometallurgical recycling processes use robust acids to extract cathode metals, however these acids can harm the crystalline construction of graphite. An extended or extra intensive warmth therapy step could also be wanted to revive graphite’s form after extraction, driving up power utilization and prices.

A 3rd method is direct recycling, through which battery supplies are separated and repaired for reuse with none smelting or acid therapy. This gentler course of goals to maintain the construction of the supplies intact. Direct recycling is a more recent concept that’s farther from commercialization than the opposite two strategies, and there are some challenges scaling it up as a result of it depends on separating supplies very cleanly and effectively. However recent research suggests that for cathode metals, it will probably have important environmental and value advantages. Direct recycling of graphite, Keyser stated, has the potential to make use of “far much less power” than artificial graphite manufacturing.

At this time, corporations are exploring a variety of graphite recycling processes. 

American Battery Know-how Firm has developed an method that begins with bodily separating graphite from different battery supplies like cathode metals, adopted by a chemical purification step. Extra mechanical and thermal therapies are then used to revive graphite’s unique construction. The corporate is presently recycling graphite at a “very small scale” at its laboratory services in Reno, Nevada, Melsert stated. However sooner or later, it plans to scale as much as recycling a number of tons of graphite-rich materials a day with the assistance of a three-year, almost $10 million Department of Energy grant funded by way of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure regulation.

Massachusetts-based battery recycling startup Ascend Components has additionally developed a chemical course of for graphite purification. Dubbed “hydro-to-anode,” Ascend Components’ course of “comes from a number of the work we’ve finished on hydro-to-cathode,” the corporate’s patented hydrometallurgical process for recycling cathode supplies, stated Roger Lin, the vice chairman of world advertising and authorities relations on the agency. Lin stated that Ascend Components is ready to take graphite that’s been contaminated throughout an preliminary shredding step again to 99.9% purity, exceeding EV business necessities, whereas additionally retaining the fabric properties wanted for top efficiency anodes. In October, Ascend Components and Koura World announced plans to construct the primary “superior graphite recycling facility” within the U.S.

The Division of Vitality-backed startup Princeton NuEnergy, in the meantime, is exploring direct recycling of graphite. Final yr, Princeton NuEnergy opened the first pilot-scale direct recycling plant within the U.S. in McKinney, Texas. There, batteries are shredded and a collection of bodily separation processes are used to kind out completely different supplies, together with cathode and anode supplies. Cathode supplies are then positioned in low-temperature reactors to strip away contaminants, adopted by further steps to reconstitute their unique construction. The identical common method can be utilized to deal with anode supplies, in line with founder and CEO Chao Yan. 

“From day one, we’re pondering to get cathode and anode materials each recycled,” Yan stated. However till now, the corporate has targeted on commercializing direct recycling for cathodes. The explanation, Yan stated, is straightforward: “No buyer cared about anode supplies up to now.”

That, nevertheless, is starting to alter. Yan stated that over the previous yr — and particularly in the previous couple of months since China introduced its new export controls — automakers and battery producers have taken a better curiosity in graphite recycling. Melsert additionally stated that he’s beginning to see “very important curiosity” in recycled graphite.

Nonetheless, prospects must wait somewhat longer earlier than they will buy recycled graphite for his or her batteries. The strategies for purifying and repairing graphite nonetheless want refinement to cut back the price of recycling, in line with Brian Cunningham, the batteries R&D program supervisor on the Division of Vitality’s Car Applied sciences Workplace. One other limiting step is what Cunningham calls the “supplies qualification step.” 

“We have to get recycled graphite to a stage the place corporations can present materials samples to battery corporations to judge the fabric,” Cunninghamsaid. The method of shifting from very small-scale manufacturing to ranges that permit EV makers to check a product, “may take a number of years to finish,” he added. “As soon as the recycled graphite enters the analysis course of, we should always begin to see an uptick in corporations organising pilot- and commercial-scale gear.“

Provide chain issues may speed up graphite recycling’s journey to commercialization. Over the summer season, the Division of Vitality added pure graphite to its list of critical materials for power. Graphite can be on the U.S. Geological Survey’s list of critical minerals — minerals which might be obligatory for superior applied sciences however susceptible to provide disruptions. 

This classification signifies that domestically sourced graphite will help EVs qualify for the “clear automobile credit score,” a tax credit score that features strict requirements round important mineral sourcing following the 2022 Inflation Discount Act. To qualify for the complete credit score, EV makers should acquire a big fraction of their battery minerals from the U.S. or a free-trade associate. By 2025, their automobiles could not include any important minerals extracted or processed by a “international entity of concern” — an entity linked to a shortlist of international nations that includes China. This requirement may “drive a premium” for domestically recycled graphite, Lin stated.

Tax incentives might be key to serving to recycled graphite compete with virgin graphite, in line with Yuan Gu, a graphite analyst on the consulting agency Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Regardless of China’s new export controls, Gu expects graphite to stay comparatively low-cost within the close to future as a result of an “oversupply” of graphite available on the market proper now. Whereas Gu stated that graphite recycling is “positively on radar for Western nations” involved in securing future provides, its viability will rely on “how expensive or low-cost the recycled materials can be.”

If graphite recycling does catch on, business insiders are hopeful it is going to be capable of meet a major fraction of the nation’s future graphite wants — that are growing rapidly because the clear power transition accelerates — whereas making all the EV battery provide chain extra sustainable.

“You may assist regional provide chains, you may assist with effectivity, with carbon footprints,” Lin stated.  “I believe it’s a no brainer this may occur.”

— Maddie Stone, Grist

This text initially appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, impartial media group devoted to telling tales of local weather options and a simply future. Join its publication here.