Lithium News

A University of Toronto researcher has developed a new technique to help recycle the metals in lithium-ion batteries, which are in high demand amid surging global sales of electric vehicles. Gisele Azimi, a professor in the departments of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and her team have proposed a new, more sustainable method to mine valuable metals—including lithium, but also cobalt, nickel and manganese—from lithium-ion batteries that have reached the end of their useful lifespan. “Getting these metals from raw ore takes a lot of energy,” says Jiakai (Kevin) Zhang, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering and applied chemistry who is lead author on a new paper recently published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling. “If we recycle existing batteries, we can sustain the constrained supply chain and help bring down the cost of EV batteries, making the vehicles more affordable.” Part of Canada’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 includes a mandatory target requiring 100 percent of new light-duty cars and passenger trucks sold in the country to be electric by 2035. Achieving this target will require an increase in the supply of critical metals, the price of which is already very high. For example, cobalt, a key ingredient in the cathode production of lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide (commonly abbreviated as NMC) batteries widely used in EVs, is also one of the most expensive components of lithium-ion batteries due to its limited reserve. “We are about to reach a point where many lithium-ion batteries are reaching their end of life,” says Azimi. ”These batteries are still very rich in elements of interest and can provide a crucial resource for recovery.” Not only can recycling provide these materials at a lower cost, but it also reduces the need to mine raw ore that comes with environmental and ethical costs. The life expectancy of EV batteries is from 10 to 20 years, but most car manufacturers only provide a guarantee for eight years or 160,000 kilometers—whichever comes first. When EV batteries reach end of life, they can be refurbished for second-life uses or recycled to recover metals. But today, many batteries are discarded improperly and end up in landfills. “If we keep mining lithium, cobalt and nickel for batteries and then just landfill them at end-of-life, there will be a negative environmental impact, especially if corrosive electrolyte leaching occurs and contaminates underground water systems,” says Zhang. Conventional processes for recycling lithium-ion batteries are based on pyrometallurgy, which uses extremely high temperature, or hydrometallurgy, which uses acids and reducing agents for extraction. These two processes are both energy intensive: pyrometallurgy produces greenhouse gas emissions, while hydrometallurgy creates wastewater that needs to be processed and handled. In contrast, Azimi’s lab group is using supercritical fluid extraction to recover metals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. This process separates one component from another by using an extracting solvent at a temperature and pressure above its critical point, where it adopts the properties of both a liquid and a gas. To recover the metals, Zhang used carbon dioxide as a solvent, which was brought to a supercritical phase by increasing the temperature above 31ºC, and the pressure up to 7 megapascals. In the paper, the team showed that this process matched the extraction efficiency of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese to 90% when compared to the conventional leaching processes, while also using fewer chemicals and generating significantly less secondary waste. In fact, the main source of energy expended during the supercritical fluid extraction process was due to the compression of CO2. “The advantage of our method is that we are using carbon dioxide from the air as the solvent instead of highly hazardous acids or bases,” she says. “Carbon dioxide is abundant, cheap and inert, and it’s also easy to handle, vent and recycle.” Supercritical fluid extraction is not a new process. It has been used in the food and pharmaceutical industries to extract caffeine from coffee beans since the 1970s. Azimi and her team’s work builds on previous research in the Laboratory for Strategic Materials to recover rare earth elements from nickel-metal-hydride batteries. However, this is the first time that this process has been used to recover metals from lithium-ion batteries, she says. “We really believe in the success and the benefits of this process,” says Azimi. “We are now moving towards commercialization of this method to increase its technology readiness level. Our next step is to finalize partnerships to build industrial-scale recycling facilities for secondary resources. If it’s enabled, it would be a big game changer.”

Australia is poised to grab a fifth of the world’s lithium hydroxide refining capacity within five years as demand grows for battery metals that bypass China, Canberra said in a report.

China produces more than 80% of the world’s lithium hydroxide, a processed form of the in-demand metal, according to the International Energy Agency. However, several companies are building refineries in Australia that would turn locally-mined lithium ore into battery-grade chemicals.

If these plans progress on time Australia could have 10% of the refining market by 2024 from a negligible amount currently, and 20% by 2027, the government said in a report released Tuesday. But delays and technical issues could derail the timeline, it warned.

Chinese company Tianqi Lithium Corp. has already opened a refinery near Perth in Western Australia, in a joint venture with Australia’s IGO Ltd. US group Albemarle Corp. is close to opening a plant nearby in a joint venture with Mineral Resources Ltd. Both projects have been beset with technical problems and cost blowouts, however.

Australian groups Wesfarmers Ltd, Mineral Resources and Liontown Resources Ltd. are also planning to open new lithium refineries.

Australia is the world’s biggest producer of the raw form of the metal that’s vital to the electric vehicle industry, supplying just under half of global demand. Most of that is sent to China as hard rock ore, where it’s refined into battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

Asia remains the biggest market for Australian lithium, but demand is growing in Europe and the US as carmakers there accelerate the switch to EVs, the government said in the report. It cited President Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, as a driver of refining in Australia. The IRA grants tax credits on EVs, but requires 50% of materials to be produced either in the US or from a country with a US free trade agreement.

The IRA is likely to boost Australia’s lithium sector, BloombergNEF said in a report on Tuesday, pointing to recent announcements by South Korean battery maker SK On Co. and Japan’s Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Inc. that they planned to increase investment in the country.

Lithium is on track to become the Australia’s fifth-most valuable export commodity, surpassing beef and wheat, and on par with copper and crude oil, the government said. Exports of the battery metal are forecast to reach A$13.8 billion ($8.9 billion) this financial year, a more than tenfold rise over two years.

Most of the growth in export revenue is due to surging prices, which have doubled since the beginning of the year as carmakers around the world scramble to secure enough to meet ambitious EV targets, the government said. Lithium ore prices are projected to more than quadruple this year, it said.

Increased output will also drive the sector’s earnings, with Australian lithium production expected to more than double over the next five years. Still, it remains a small export industry next to the three biggest export sectors: iron ore, coal, and liquefied natural gas will together earn A$329 billion in revenue this year, the government forecast.

A key lithium producer in Australia, the world’s top supplier, is urging electric car manufacturers and battery makers to become its partners in new refinery projects, arguing their direct financial backing is vital to avoid shortfalls of the material that’s crucial to the clean energy transition.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd. is seizing on a current rush by automakers to secure future supplies of battery materials by seeking new deals with customers to jointly develop refineries, Chief Executive Officer Dale Henderson said in an interview.

“There’s certainly a level of desperation from some groups” who are end-users of lithium and seeking more access to output, he said. “If you believe the supply-demand outlook, there’s going to be a shortage, and the car companies who haven’t secured the supply chain are going to have a problem.”

Lithium demand is forecast to almost triple by mid-decade from last year’s level, BloombergNEF said in a July report. Prices hit a new record in China last month on increasing consumption, with automakers including BMW AG and General Motors Co. among companies adding new supply agreements in recent weeks.

Pilbara Minerals — which has a market valuation of about $8.5 billion — is planning a major expansion of its mine in Western Australia in the next two years that will nearly double output of lithium-bearing raw materials. At the same time, the company will aim to leverage current strong demand to move away from long-term supply deals and win more pricing power.

Previously, lithium miners had rushed to strike agreements with refiners, battery companies and car manufacturers to show investors the strength of the market for their product, and to help secure funding to develop projects. With analysts now predicting prices will stay elevated after more than doubling this year, according to a key index, producers are in a stronger position to demand better deals.

“Two years ago, no one wanted to be in lithium, and the phone would not ring,” Henderson said. “Now, the phone won’t stop ringing.”

Another Australian lithium miner, Liontown Resources Ltd., demonstrated the sector’s growing bargaining power in June, when it sealed a deal with Ford Motor Co. The supply pact was notable because it included a A$300 million ($195 million) loan from the car giant at a comparatively low interest rate of 1.5% above the bank bill swap rate, a common benchmark in Australia.

Whereas Liontown sought funding for its Kathleen Valley mine project in western Australia, Pilbara Minerals sees the chance to add to its foothold in downstream chemical processing, a strategy designed to help the producer diversify away from the volatility of raw commodities.

Pilbara Minerals has an 18% stake in a joint venture with South Korea’s POSCO Holdings Inc. and expects their plant to begin producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide late next year. The Australian miner is now actively seeking other similar deals, potentially with carmakers, Henderson said in Perth last week.

China-based Tianqi Lithium Corp. has begun producing lithium hydroxide at a refinery in western Australia — the first new major hub outside its home country — and Albemarle is developing a separate operation nearby. It’s unlikely Pilbara would add a similar facility in Australia, though, it’s in the early stages of planning a refinery that would turn lithium-bearing ore — known as spodumene — into an intermediary salt product.

That would be easier to produce than lithium hydroxide, and also more valuable and cheaper to transport than spodumene concentrate, Henderson said.

Pilbara’s mine expansion will add an extra 400,000 tons a year of hard rock lithium ore — which equates to around 50,000 tons of battery grade lithium — within the next two years, Henderson said. Last year, Australia exported 247,000 tons of lithium, accounting for around 50% of global supply.

Amid global efforts towards carbon neutrality, automakers all over the world are actively engaged in research and development to convert internal combustion engine vehicles into electric vehicles. Accordingly, competition to improve battery performance, which is at the heart of electric vehicles, is intensifying. Since their commercialization in 1991, lithium-ion batteries have held a dominant market share in most market segments, from small home appliances to electric vehicles, thanks to continuous improvement in energy density and efficiency. However, some phenomena occurring within such batteries are still not well understood, such as the expansion and deterioration of the anode material.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok-Jin Yoon) announced that its team led by Dr. Jae-Pyoung Ahn (Research Resources Division) and Dr. Hong-Kyu Kim (Advanced Analysis and Data Center) has succeeded in the real-time observation of the expansion and deterioration of the anode material within batteries due to the movement of lithium ions.

The performance and lifespan of lithium-ion batteries are generally known to be affected by various changes that occur in the internal electrode materials during the charging and discharging processes. However, it is, difficult to monitor such changes during operation because major battery materials, such as electrodes and electrolytes, are instantly contaminated when exposed to the air. Therefore, accurate observation and analysis of structural changes in the electrode material during lithium ion migration is the most important factor in improving performance and safety.

In a lithium-ion battery, the lithium ions move to the anode during charging and move to the anode during discharging. The KIST research team succeeded in real-time observation of a silicon–graphite composite anode, which is being studied for its commercial use as a high-capacity battery. Theoretically, the charging capacity of silicon is 10 times higher than that of graphite, a conventional anode material. However, the volume of silicon nanopowders quadruples during the charging process, making it difficult to ensure performance and safety. It has been hypothesized that the nanopores formed during the mixing of the constituents of silicon–graphite composites can accommodate the volume expansion of silicon during battery charging, thereby changing the battery volume. However, the role of these nanopores has never been confirmed by direct observation with electrochemical voltage curves.

Using a self-designed battery analysis platform, The KIST research team directly observed the migration of lithium ions into the silicon–graphite composite anode during charging, and identified the practical role of the nanopores. It was found that lithium ions migrate sequentially into the carbon, nanopores, and silicon in the silicon–graphite composite. Furthermore, the research team noted that the nano-sized pores tend to store lithium ions (fore-filling lithiation) before the lithium-silicon particles (Si lithiation), while the micro-sized pores accommodate the volume expansion of silicon as previously believed. Therefore, the research team suggests that a novel approach that appropriately distributes micro- and nano-sized pores to alleviate the volume expansion of silicon, thereby improving the safety of the material, is necessary for the design of high-capacity anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

“Just as the James Webb Space Telescope heralds a new era in space exploration, the KIST battery analysis platform opens new horizons in material research by enabling the observation of structural changes in electric batteries,” said Dr. Ahn, head of KIST Research Resources Division. “We plan to continue the additional research necessary for driving innovations in battery material design, by observing structural changes in battery materials that are not affected by atmospheric exposure.” he said.

Lithium batteries are becoming more and more popular. They’re versatile and reliable, and they have a number of advantages when compared to other types of batteries. Here are 10 of the most important advantages of buying lithium batteries.

1. They’re powerful and durable

Lithium-ion batteries are very powerful. They can store a large amount of energy for a long period of time. They’re often used in devices that need a large amount of energy, like inverters, printers, and electric bikes. Lithium-ion batteries are also durable. They can work well at high temperatures.

2. They’re lightweight and portable

Lithium-ion batteries are lightweight. This makes them ideal for devices that need to be portable, like electric cars, mobile phones, laptops, cordless phones, or digital cameras. The portability feature of lithium batteries means they don’t take up a lot of space in a storage facility. This is important because it allows you to use lithium-ion batteries in a variety of places.

3. They have a long lifespan

The lifespan of a lithium-ion battery is long, which means that you can use the same battery for a long time. It allows you to save money by not having to buy new batteries as often.

4. They’re energy-efficient

Lithium batteries are energy efficient. This means they lose very less energy during the recharge/discharge cycles. Moreover, they do not emit any harmful gases.

5. They’re eco-friendly

Lithium-ion batteries are eco-friendly. This means that they’re designed to have a low impact on the environment.

6. They’re rechargeable

Lithium batteries can be recharged. This makes them easy to use. Lithium-ion batteries are often used in devices that need to be used over a period of time, like cordless phones and digital cameras. They can be recharged when they run out of power, so you don’t have to buy new ones for a long time. It saves you money and prevents the pollution caused by disposing of lithium-ion batteries in landfills.

7. They have a low self-discharge rate

Lithium-ion batteries have a low self-discharge rate. This means that they don’t lose much power over a long period of time. This feature allows you to use lithium batteries in the same devices for a long period of time.

8. They have a low voltage drop

Lithium batteries have a low voltage drop. This means that their voltage remains relatively constant. This is beneficial because it prevents their lifetime from being shortened by excessive voltage drop.

9. They have few moving parts

Lithium-ion batteries have few moving parts. This makes them efficient to use and easy to maintain. It prevents them from breaking and is advantageous because it reduces the chances of accidents occurring, like when a lithium-ion battery falls and breaks.

10. They’re easy to maintain

Lithium batteries are easy to maintain. You don’t have to do a lot of work to keep them working well. Lithium-ion batteries are also easy to recycle. This makes the product eco-friendly as it minimizes the amount of pollution caused by lithium-ion batteries.

All of these advantages make it obvious why lithium-ion batteries are becoming so popular these days. If you’re looking for an inverter with a lithium-ion battery that is reliable and affordable, you can consider the Li-On 1250 Inverter by Luminous. This product comes with an in-built lithium battery.

It provides advantages such as efficiency, 3X longer life, 3X faster charging, and hassle-free maintenance. The best feature is that it also comes with an Intelligent Battery Management System (BMS) that ensures the optimal performance of the device.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin fabricated a new type of electrode for lithium-ion batteries that could unleash greater power and faster charging.

In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists explain that they’ve produced thicker electrodes using magnets to create a unique alignment that sidesteps common problems associated with sizing up these critical components.

The result is an electrode that could potentially facilitate twice the range on a single charge for an electric vehicle, compared with a battery using an existing commercial electrode.

“Two-dimensional materials are commonly believed as a promising candidate for high-rate energy storage applications because it only needs to be several nanometers thick for rapid charge transport,” Guihua Yu, co-author of the study said in a media statement.

“However, for thick-electrode-design-based next-generation, high-energy batteries, the restacking of nanosheets as building blocks can cause significant bottlenecks in charge transport, leading to difficulty in achieving both high energy and fast charging.”

Yu explained that the key was to use thin two-dimensional materials as the building blocks of the electrode, stacking them to create thickness and then using a magnetic field to manipulate their orientations.

The research team also used commercially available magnets during the fabrication process to arrange the two-dimensional materials in a vertical alignment, creating a fast lane for ions to travel through the electrode.

According to Yu, typically, thicker electrodes force the ions to travel longer distances to move through the battery, which leads to slower charging time. The typical horizontal alignment of the layers of material that make up the electrode force the ions to snake back and forth.

“Our electrode shows superior electrochemical performance partially due to the high mechanical strength, high electrical conductivity, and facilitated lithium-ion transport thanks to the unique architecture we designed,” co-author Zhengyu Ju said.

In addition to comparing their electrode with a commercial electrode, they also fabricated a horizontally arranged electrode using the same materials for experimental control purposes. They were able to recharge the vertical thick electrode to 50% energy level in 30 minutes, compared with 2 hours and 30 minutes with the horizontal electrode.

The researchers emphasized they are early in their work in this area. They looked at just a single type of battery electrode in this research.

Their goal is, thus, to generalize their methodology of vertically organized electrode layers to apply it to different types of electrodes using other materials. This could help the technique become more widely adopted in industry, so it could enable future fast-charging yet high-energy batteries that power electric vehicles.