Recovery of cobalt, nickel and lithium as salts
Stage 7
Safety processing and dismantling (separation of cathodes, anodes and plastics)
Stage 2
- A battery contains: plastics, solvent, electronic components, modules
- The modules contain cells
- Cells: anodes coated in graphite/cathodes coated in a mixture of oxides that contain strategic metals (cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese)
A closed-loop life cycle
Recovery and grinding of the cells containing the metals
A mechanical separator extracts the recyclable fragments of copper, plastic and aluminium
Packaging and transport to the hazardous waste recycling center
Processing of anodes and cathodes to recover the “black mass”, a black powder that contains cobalt, nickel and lithium oxides
Hydrometallurgical separation
Sourcing for precursor cathode active materials (pCAM)
Stage 4
Stage 3
Stage 1
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 8
Closed-loop recycling reduces dependence on critical metals from foreign countries
Batteries are collected from production scrap produced by gigafactories/manufacturers