Funding Selections: FY23 AMMTO Recycling-Remanufacturing Lab Call

Office: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO)

Funding Awarded: $2 million

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) has allocated $2 million to propel advancements in lithium-ion battery (LIB) component remanufacturing, repurposing and reuse by funding eight groundbreaking projects over a one-year performance period. Administered through the ReCell Center at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), these initiatives are set to address the imminent challenge of over two million tons of Li-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap that is expected to flood the market within the coming decade.

Topic Area

DEVELOPMENT OF ROOM TEMPERATURE PROCESS FOR RECYCLING AND REUSE OF ELECTRODES

Number of Awards: 5
Award Amount: $1.25 million

 

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Argonne National Laboratory

    Location: Lemont, Illinois

    Partner: Cirba Solutions

    Argonne has developed technologies to recover lithium from solution and will work with Cirba Solutions to recover lithium from their commercial LIB recycling processes. The goal of the project is to cost-effectively turn the recovered lithium into a battery grade product that can be returned to the battery supply chain.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Argonne National Laboratory

    Location: Lemont, Illinois

    Partner: Li Industries Inc.

    Li Industries Inc. has established methods for sorting and recycling batteries to achieve high quality LIBs feedstocks to directly produce battery-grade lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Working with Argonne, the goal of the project is to further develop cost-effective processes to directly recycle LFP LIBs through sorting, separation, and regeneration.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

    Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    Partner: Nth Cycle

    Nth Cycle and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will work to selectively precipitate metal hydroxides from aged cathode materials using a novel electro-extraction method. This method is based on the use of flow-through porous electrodes and sequential electro-extractions. The goal of the project will be to recover metal hydroxide precipitates and be evaluated as precursor cathode active materials, otherwise known as pCAM, for use in manufacturing LIBs.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Location: Golden, Colorado

    Partner: Koura Global

    National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Koura Global will repair and upgrade the morphology of first-generation spent graphite to meet modern performance requirements. The goal of the project is to produce “upcycled” graphite that is a viable alternative to pristine graphite by optimizing mechanical and mechano-chemical approaches.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Location: Golden, Colorado

    Partner: Storagenergy Technologies

    NREL and Storagenergy Technologies Inc. will use a one-step atmospheric microplasma reaction to remove electrolyte degradation products and relithiate end-of-life cathode materials. The goal of the project is to reduce the number of steps and time necessary for the direct recycling of battery components. 

RECYCLING OF ELECTROLYTES

Number of Awards: 3
Award Amount: $750,000

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

    Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    Partner: Austin Elements

    Austin Elements and ORNL will utilize the ORNL expertise to recycle electrolyte from end-of-life batteries.  The goal of the project is to reduce environmental hazards, understand the fundamental differences between pristine and recycled electrolyte components, and effectively separate value-added products, such as glycol and LiF.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Idaho National Laboratory

    Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho

    Partner: American Battery Technology Company

    Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) will develop and advance new methods to extract valuable, currently unrecovered electrolyte components. The goal of the project is to develop environmentally conscious methods to remove electrolyte from end-of-life LIBs and recover intact electrolyte components including organic solvents and inorganic lithium salts.

  • Award Amount: $250,000

    Project Lead: Idaho National Laboratory

    Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho

    Partner: Koura Global

    INL and Koura Global will advance new methods to upcycle extracted electrolyte components. The goal of the project is to develop methods for recovering, classifying, quantifying, and upcycling electrolyte components through a combination of extraction and synthetic routes.

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