The electric vehicle industry is already growing rapidly, and
with the UK government’s plan to end the sale of new
conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040, the market is
only set to grow.
In turn, demand for critical elements such as cobalt, nickel,
manganese, lithium and graphite, commonly used in the production
of electric vehicle batteries, will also rise.
Cobalt salts producer, ICoNiChem Widnes is
leading a project to embed recycling and reuse of materials in
the electric vehicle supply chain - and tackle some of the
problems associated with the sourcing and use of these elements.
Fully realise the UK’s green ambitions
Paul Croft, Operations Director at ICoNiChem, says:
We believe the UK needs to move towards a circular economy to
fully realise the green ambitions of electric vehicles.
The circular economy puts recycling and remanufacture at the
centre of production, minimising waste and putting materials back
into the supply chain.
Paul continues:
Batteries don’t last forever, and with a lifetime of 8 to 10
years, there will be a lot of waste developed.
If we don’t, as a country, consider what to do with that waste,
then [electric vehicles] won’t be as green as we think.
ICoNiChem is working alongside the research
organisation, Warwickshire Manufacturing
Group (WMG), and others, in a recycling and reuse
project through the Industrial Strategy Challenge
Fund’s Faraday battery
challenge.
Why reuse of materials is important
Lithium-ion batteries, widely used in consumer electronics, now
feature heavily in modern electric vehicles. These generally
include a lithium cobalt oxide cathode and a graphite anode.
Both these elements need to be mined from the earth, which is an
environmental issue due to their finite resource. It’s also a
political concern due to the presence of these mines in countries
that often have less stringent safety legislation.
To reduce the impact and support sustainability, recycling of the
materials is an obvious solution. However, this isn’t currently
done within the UK’s electric vehicle supply chain.
Dr Emma Kendrick, Materials Chemist at WMG says:
Currently our batteries are shipped over to Europe and a lot of
those materials, which are on the critical elements and
strategic materials list, are lost.
Though the rare and mined materials used in batteries are of
critical importance, the entire recycling of the battery will
be looked at.
Recycling over and over again
ICoNiChem is playing a leading role in the project due to it
being the only cobalt salt producer in the UK. It also has
expertise and experience in reprocessing and recycling cobalt,
manganese and nickel.
Paul says:
All of the tests show that the recycled materials are identical
to those made from virgin sources, so theoretically there is no
reason why you couldn’t recycle over and over again.
Environmental and cost benefits
The benefits of the project will be environmental and cost-based,
as recycling these materials and constructing a UK-based supply
chain will bring down the price of batteries.
Emma concludes:
We’re maximising what the UK can provide in terms of materials
and technology, bringing them into the UK economy in a growing
industry.
Project funding from the £246 million Faraday battery challenge -
which aims to develop new battery technologies for electric
vehicles - is delivered by Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council, both part of UK Research and Innovation.
