Love the idea of NOT extracting every single different mineral, but going straight to the marketable battery precursor mix. Less cost, higher final price for the mixture -- win win!
@@rogerstarkey5390True. It would probably have to be the same battery chemistry. If it's not - you could always mix in what was not there in sufficient quantities - or even dilute the whole thing - as necessary. Still a lot cheaper than mining the entire batch from scratch.
It is an interesting path for sure and saves a lot on footprint. However, I can see it not fitting into manufacturing though, which will be dominated by primary feed (pure feed) for decades. I think Ascend Elements uses a similar paradigm (purification verses separation). It is certainly more viable than trying to recycle cathode particles (direct recycling) which keep you mostly locked into old formulations.
The ability to recycle manufacturing line scrap directly right into the manufacturing line's recipe is a fantastic one. All other companies I've seen are focusing on mixed-waste battery recycling into individual elements.
Indeed, going directly to cathode material is very clever! It's also not new. Ascend Elements has had this capability for more than 8 years now. They have about a billion and a half in financing and have already built a couple of plants. Efficient recycling of lithium batteries is fast becoming a mature technology.
Jerry Rig Everything recently toured a recycler that produces black mass. It's an excellent companion video to this one. I highly recommend warching it.
I‘m stunned, discharged black mass as the starting point for reuse at a lower price than „from sources“, that‘s smart mining. A big advantage. I‘d like to know more about Redwood: they also do that and 2nd about limitation of these processes. Eye opening technologies, very impressive. Thank you Sandy for presenting to us noobs 😅
An interesting analogy is that recycling is similar to the digestive system. You start with grinding the whole material (teeth). Then, chemical separation (stomach acid) and collect & breakdown elements (intestinal bacteria) remove water (large intestine). Then, the nutrients get used for energy protection and cell repair
Fascinating Sandy, while the chemistry is way over my head this video made the Business Concept and approach these guys are taking clear and immensely viable. Congratulations to you, your team and the RecycLiCo team. A company to watch, making the world a better cleaner more efficient place.
there are 2 basic was to recycle battery cells. one involves melting it down , and extract material. the other is water leaching, collecting the lighter material, with heaviest elements settled on the bottom, also EZ to separate plastics & composite.😊
I’ve invested $57k into this company so far. The numbers simply don’t lie and the team executes without needing fluff every time. Lean, clean business model with tons of cash and a patented process on 3 continents? That’s a good bet.
I invested in this company also. I think they have a licensing agreement with Tesla from all the things I read. This company will get a head start from the rest.
What a great video on the process of recycling valuable metals. The technical level of discussion was on-point for those of us that understand the basics of mineral extraction. I expect this video will spawn thousands of articles and videos. The discussion how how they prevent explosions during processing was a highlight for me.
@@laughinggas5281I think this company should merge with Li-Cycle which has a very efficient process to breakdown the battery to make the black mass. It’s a win-win for both.
Awesome introduction to RecycLiCo and their work in the battery recycling world. Great talents on display. Thanks to Sandy and the Munro Live team for the research & hard work in putting this presentation together!
Yeah they are great for sure. The kind of company you feel proud to be apart of the team and accomplish great new innovative ways forward to recycling and making a new product in the smartest of ways!
This is what makes you a rock star! Who else would even begin to answer these tough questions we all should want to understand before jumping on board the BEV train. Thanks!
This was so easy to understand. I love how those guys had little smiles as they were explaining stuff. I get the feeling they might be in the Tesla club and they "get it". The one thing I wanted you to ask about that you didn't was how do Lithium Phosphate batteries fit into their plan if at all? Alot of battery chemistry is heading that way away from NMC and Cobalt.
That was an absolutely amazing tour and explanation! Why can't the USA do something like this? And if there is a similar facility, why is it not in the news?
The US is way behind in this aspect of the energy transition. But the US government has taken steps to try and catch up. They've made $192 million available specifically for battery recycling efforts. The Biden administration is claiming credit. But it's Congress that approves the funds. Why so far behind? Well, that's because the oil industry has been actively suppressing battery development in the US for decades, and they own about half the politicians that could make a difference.
@@robertrobertson5120- can’t believe MSM. Sometimes, states will make announcements when businesses open like this. Georgia, for example, announced both battery recycling & manufacturing facilities.
This is a great companion video to the @JerryRigEverything video that just came out showing how companies turn old EV battery packs into the black mass they mention several times in this video.
Great news!! What is the actual efficiency? As in, how much target material does this process actually extract and how much is not recovered? Can this process effectively replace mining once we have enough batteries in the global market?
It is ironic that the main issue with commercializing Li-Ion battery recycling is the lack of scale of batteries coming back. Recycling manufacturing scrap may be the saviour of these companies in the short term.
I've read that the "old" batteries are simply placed in storage until they are ready to be recycled. If it costs too much, they'll stay in storage for a long, long time.
@@ScubaSteveCanadathat’s the big batteries. The small cell phone batteries and others that size are probably going into landfills far more than they need to.
I've heard that many "old" car batteries are being in other applications (like grid storage) and aren't actually being shredded. Wouldn't mind seeing data on what % of spent EV batteries are truly recycled. @@ScubaSteveCanada
@@ScubaSteveCanadaI have read no such thing. What I have read is that battery recyclers in North America are eager to receive all EV batteries and laptop and phone batteries. These include Redwood Materials and Battery Recyclers of America. Of course, most used EV batteries have a lot of value for stationary storage as well. That's a business that's just getting started. But the typical used EV battery will have the capacity of four Tesla Powerwalls.
I have 2 model S battery bricks in my RV - used daily for 3 years to power Starlink - charge Surron E bike - Fridge / cooking - Battery has worked well
That's not an end of life scenario. This video is discussing recycling product that has truly reached end of life (no further capabilities in the product).
@@xploration1437got batteries to power mini split AC then changed my mind - I have gear needed to charge at car chargers but have not used it yet - if I start stealth camping again will install AC and use car chargers
This was great. I love companies like this, Redwood Materials and Li-Cycle. They all do some similar things but all doing great work in this field of battery recovery.
Great interview Sandy. They explained the complex chemistry and processes in a way I could under stand it. I met Zarko at the Vancouver Fully Charged Trade show this weekend and he spent 15-20 minutes answering all my questions and details about how to implement with the OEM's. As he stressed this process is currently done off shore and as we build the many new battery factories it will make total logistic sense to recycle it on shore. The future looks great and keep up the interviews of new tech. Love what you do.
Those tiny pellets have a specific composition and structure. To recover the pellets in their active form would be quite an accomplishment as the cathodes are made by select companies that can deliver a level of performance and consistency unmatched by others. Unfortunately, the black mass has a large amount of carbon/graphite that effectively is a contaminant. Carbon anode manufacturing still prefers virgin materials. The energetics of the battery materials, including the very active electrolytes degrades with use and time.....larger amounts of energy can be stored by better means.
Fantastic behind the scenes giving us some insights into some of the state of the art theories and practises for battery recycling. In essence it was merely scratching the surface, but thankfully it didn't cause a fire 🤦♂️ and instead just ignited my curiosity even more than before.
Sounds like these folks have the brains and the braun, or should I say due diligence, to make battery recycling work, and work well! TYSM Sandy & team! ❤
This was marvelous. You interviewed a wonderful group of people and I’m excited in learning how recycling processes are improving. It was also good to rehear Sandy’s mantra of doing as much as you can in-house to maximize your ability to develop and improve.
Excellent seeing a little way into the weeds of this stage of battery recycling developments. Hydrometallurgy processes do seem more promising than Pyrometallurgy ones. Glad I picked up on the renaming of American Manganese - I wondered where they got too! 😁 There are close to a dozen companies in North America and Europe working in this space that I've managed to list, it will be interesting to see how they all get on.
I was not expecting to see Munroe in my area. Moli Energy is within walking distance and as a kid I rode my dirt bike where it was built. There is a lot of energy R&D here and I have worked on numerous interesting projects for various companies in this sector.
I hear about chemicals being used in various processes for lithium batteries. How are the chemicals, that are used in the minerals mined, manufactured and recycling, extracted/mined, etc., being recycled/disposed of in the end?
Looks like very hard work to get to that point with patents and then now to scale up with even more sensors and robotics.. plus training staff. Very hard work.
That video was incredible Sandy Thanks very much Only you could produce that with them I could follow it all but don't ask me questions Interesting what you said about the Whiz Kids at Ford Keep em comin
We need to push for a more recycling world We need to push for legislation for companies to only release recyclable products. No more making new trash.
Norm Chow really seemed to want to move the discussion away from Sodium Sulfate production 22:00. Cut the guy off, and just gave a generic "This is our new technology, and it's proprietary and pending patent" response. Very curious. Wonder if they haven't really solved it yet, or if talking about it was giving to much information out to competitors. Guess it's the latter. He really seemed to shut the topic down fast.
Absolutely great vid from Munro! I believe there's one fundamental risk in the EV battery recycling business and that is the pace of change. We now have improved mining processes and the cost of LNCs have gone down significantly in last 5 years and on top of that we have more efficient batteries that can store and dissipate more energy per cell and average life span of an EV Li-on battery is around 6-8 years (personal EVs). So that cost of procuring these 6-8 year old batteries today can be higher than the cost making a new battery simply because the minerals are available at low prices and the efficiency has increased. Net net, I thinking it will make more sense to invest your $$ in recycling batteries at a large scale once things start becoming more standardized.
Best explanation with details of direct crystal end product for immediate use with no secondary steps. Amazing and precise process related to end use for the most economical return.
I hope their economy of recycling works along evolution of battery chemistry. EV needs cheaper battery but I don't want it the point of "too cheap & too energy intensive to recycle" like most polymers
I have very recently been involved with module possessing for recycling to the tune of 60 thousand Kilograms and it is a 1000 times easier to process pouches than cells, no comparison. The OEM folks make it really hard to recycle some times. I respect the guineas at the top but they really can't see or comprehend the struggles before the product is ready for them to play with.
Very interesting video, thank you for making this. I would be very curious in the overall efficiency of their process compared to conventional mining and processing.
Would be interesting to look at recycling numbers. I know there are places to send lithium batteries, like big box stores, but what percent actually make it there vs the landfill. Should be answered before any claims, they don't have enough used batteries
Thanks Sandy and the RecycliCo company for a very informative video. Love that their process is based on first principles thinking to lower costs and manufacturing complexity.
Wow, fantastic work again from Munro Live. Thanks very much, did not know of the history of Vancouver's miniing, research and battery research before. Yay UBC, Yay Molicell - makers of some excellent Lion cells of very high power.
It's interesting to see the strategy of recovering what will be reused. I've been selling scrap Lithium Ion batteries for years and just assumed it all went to China but never knew what was done with these batteries. It's good to see how these are processed.
Exciting to see companies innovating in the recycling space, esp for battery materials. Unexpected that production waste is a major material source (for now, perhaps …. 10 years from now a different story)
Beautiful music to this chemical engineer's ears. Maybe I'll come out of retirement. Well maybe not. I enjoy driving my Tesla too much! Just completed a 2382 mile trip through the hinterlands of AZ, UT, and CO. Averaged 243 watt-hours per mile in our '20 Model S. The Panasonic 18650 cells are still doing just fine.
i saw another video on making black mass, this is the next step - though basically just research (no industrial high volume recycling). Still haven´t seen the final battery that runs off this recycled material. A noble project, but looks to be in its infancy. I also wonder how heavily subsidized this endeavor is. With all those fancy machines its probably easy to convince a well meaning congressman or investor to fork over some cash.
With the different battery chemistries, then the black mass material chemistry from those battery will also be different. So I assume you will measure the chemistry of the black mass before purchasing as well.
