Recycling Materials: Turning Old Batteries into New Ones

Manual manufacture of cells at the Battery Technical Center. It pools KIT’s competencies along the entire value chain of batteries. (Photo: Markus Breig, KIT) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is largely involved in a new battery recycling project. LiBinfinity focuses on a holistic concept for recycling materials of lithium-ion batteries. A mechanico-hydrometallurgical process without energy-intensive process steps will be transferred from the lab to an industry-relevant scale. KIT will then check whether the recycled materials are suited for the manufacture of new batteries. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) funds LiBinfinity with nearly EUR 17 million. Of these, about 1.2 million euros go to KIT.Sustainability of electric mobility largely depends on the batteries. They contain important resources, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and…

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