The black mass from battery recycling contains nickel, cobalt and lithium. Work is currently underway at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg to recover these raw materials as completely as possible.
TU Bergakademie Freiberg is the first research institution in Germany to conduct recycling research on an online-capable shredding plant in connection with a research database.
TU Bergakademie Freiberg / Andreas Hiekel
A team from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg wants to shred battery cells in such a way that as many of the raw materials they contain as possible can be efficiently recovered. To do this, the researchers are also capturing volatile substances that were previously lost at an online shredding plant. The plant is able to shred used battery cells weighing up to 2500 g in a single step. The process produces particles between 0 and 20 mm, in particular fine particles, known as black mass. This contains the raw materials nickel, cobalt and lithium.
"Our goal is to extract these materials as completely as possible," says Prof. Urs Peuker, Director of the Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Processing Technology at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. The new shredding technology can be used for both e-bike batteries and larger cells from electric and hybrid vehicles. The final black mass is produced by further steps such as sieving, sifting or magnetic separation. New sensors will soon be used to connect the shredding plant to databases and for data analysis using AI.
This is a partly automated translation of this German article.
