BASF, Others Bringing Li-ion Battery Recycling to Scale
End-of-life lithium-ion batteries and production scrap are loaded with lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other materials that could be repurposed for other applications, and companies like BASF, Eramet, Northvolt and Revolt are developing new facilities and processes for recycling them.
The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is shifting into high gear. Firms in Asia, Europe, and North America are building large facilities to recycle the valuable metals in those cars’ lithium-ion batteries, which start to show declining performance after a decade or 2 of use. Recyclers hope that reusing the lithium, nickel, and cobalt in used batteries will reduce the environmental impact of making new batteries.