On February 20, CETIM Technological Center brought together 11 Spanish entities in Culleredo (A Coruña) to launch the innovation project RECOBATs (Development of a comprehensive BATTERY RECYCLING Strategy).
The project aims to develop a comprehensive and versatile strategy for the second life and recycling of Lithium-ion batteries at the end of their useful life. To this end, different technologies will be investigated in all stages of the process, from logistics and transportation safety, deactivation, automatic disassembly or regeneration into new batteries and direct recycling through selective separation for the recovery of battery elements, such as cathode, anode, copper and aluminum; as well as indirect recycling, with which strategic materials can be recovered to give them a second life.
RECOBATs will not only boost the electromobility and renewable energy market, but will also promote the recovery of critical metals, contribute significantly to the improvement of environmental sustainability, reducing CO2 emissions by at least 70% compared to obtaining some Critical Raw Materials such as Lithium, Cobalt or Nickel by extractive mining and will reduce the accumulation of waste in landfills.
The project will be executed within a period of 48 months and is formed by a scientific consortium led by CETIM Technological Center and formed by AIMEN, the Iberian Center for Research in Energy Storage CIIAE and CSIC-CENIM. On the other hand, ECOINTEGRAL/IDP, a company with more than 26 years of experience in energy infrastructure engineering, coordinates the business group of which companies such as Apria Systems, BeeCYCLE, DGH, Envirobat, FCC Ámbito and Recyclia are part. Each of these entities spans the entire battery recycling value chain from collection, disassembly and condition analysis, useful life extension, selective separation, materials recovery, process modeling and visualization, and materials application.
The project “RECOBATs: Development of a comprehensive BATTERY RECYCLING Strategy (PLEC2024-011135) is financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the State Research Agency (MCIU /AEI /10.13039/501100011033) and by FEDER, EU, through the call for aid to online R&D&I projects strategic initiatives within the framework of the Transmissions 2024 initiative in cooperation with the group of companies that receives financing from the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI).
