STTR Phase I: A Direct Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Process Yielding Battery-Grade Cathode Materials

STTR 第一阶段：直接锂离子电池回收工艺生产电池级正极材料

• 批准号: 1819982
• 负责人: Nolan Schmidt
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Li Industries, Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-06-01 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1819982&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Direct; Lithium; Ion

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project advances a cost-effective and scalable direct recycling method for producing battery-grade cathode materials from end-of-life (EOL) lithium-ion batteries. The commercialization of the proposed direct lithium-ion battery recycling technology will lower the energy consumption and emissions associated with battery production, reduce demand for raw battery materials and decrease lithium-ion battery manufacturing cost. Using directly recycled materials instead of raw battery materials will diminish or even avoid the negative environmental impacts from mining and processing ores and from disposal of hazardous waste. Reducing battery cost will facilitate the implementation of more efficient electrified vehicles, thus reducing petroleum demand and vehicle emissions. Finally, research on the end-of-life lithium-ion battery cathode, on the direct recycling process and on the recycled materials will advance the understanding of intercalation chemistry in nonaqueous and aqueous media and of electrode degradation during electrochemical cycling. The intellectual merit of this project is to advance the direct recycling technology through the design and demonstration of a scalable electrochemical flow system capable of non-destructive relithiation and the optimization of post treatment operation for the recovered materials. The electrochemical flow system is capable of restoring the lost lithium in the EOL cathode material at any state of charge (SOC) and can be scaled to a commercially viable size. The cathode materials recovered in the proposed direct recycling process retain the same structure and morphology and exhibit equivalent electrochemical performance compared to the commercial virgin cathode materials. The recovery of high-value cathode materials substantially improves the profitability of lithium-ion battery recycling and is a key element of the business plan.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个小型企业技术转移阶段I项目推进了一种具有成本效益且可扩展的直接回收方法，用于从寿命（EOL）锂离子电池生产电池级阴极材料。拟议的直接锂离子电池回收技术的商业化将降低与电池生产相关的能源消耗和排放，减少对原电池材料的需求并降低锂离子电池的制造成本。使用直接回收的材料而不是原始电池材料会减少甚至避免挖掘和加工矿石以及处置有害废物的负面影响。降低电池成本将有助于实施更高效的电动车辆，从而减少石油需求和车辆排放。最后，对寿命末期锂离子电池阴极，直接回收过程和回收材料的研究将提高对非水和水性培养基中的互化化学的理解以及电化学循环期间电极降解的理解。该项目的智力优点是通过设计和演示能够非破坏性重新构建的可扩展电化学流动系统的设计和演示来推进直接回收技术，并为回收材料提供了治疗后操作的优化。电化学流系统能够以任何充电状态（SOC）恢复EOL阴极材料中的丢失锂，并且可以缩放到商业上可行的尺寸。在拟议的直接回收过程中回收的阴极材料保留了相同的结构和形态，并且与商业维珍阴极材料相比，具有等效的电化学性能。高价值阴极材料的回收基本上可以提高锂离子电池回收的盈利能力，并且是业务计划的关键要素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准通过评估来进行评估。