Electrochemical Reclamation of Lithium-Ion Battery Materials Using SPOT Recycling

Establishing clean, low-cost methods for recycling lithium-ion batteries is essential for securing a sustainable supply chain for our green energy future. Cool Amps has developed a proprietary electrochemical process for lithium-ion battery recycling that avoids costly and environmentally unsound processing steps such as shredding and pyrometallurgy. Cool Amps uses our prototype laminar flow extraction modules to harvest valuable materials from production scrap or end-of-life batteries with a variety of form factors (cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic cells). The small footprint of our extraction modules allows us to be co-located at gigafactories or end-of-life collection facilities for SPOT recycling, negating the need for complex shipping and transportation logistics and significantly reducing recycling costs. In lab-scale demonstrations, our process recovers >85% of the valuable transition metals harvested from cathode materials and leaves the anode graphite intact and ready for re-use. These materials are characterized by elemental analysis, powder x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. We will demonstrate that the reclaimed components are viable components for manufacturing recycled lithium-ion batteries, enabling a secure and circular supply chain for America’s green energy future.