Green Li-ion, a lithium-ion battery recycling technology company, has launched its first commercial-scale installation within an existing recycling facility in Atoka, Oklahoma, to produce sustainable, battery-grade cathode and anode materials from concentrated components of used batteries.
Traditionally, the process of recycling spent lithium-ion batteries in North America requires the batteries to be sorted before being shredded and processed into black mass and further into sulfates. This material is then exported overseas – most commonly to China and South Korea – for further processing.
To reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign processes and close the recycling loop, Green Li-ion’s patented Green-hydro rejuvenation technology utilizes a hydrometallurgical approach that directly converts recycled scrap of different lithium-ion battery chemistries into battery-grade precursor cathode active material (pCAM).
pCAM is a powder-like substance that contains critical components such as nickel and cobalt, and as the name suggests, it is the precursor material to cathode active material (CAM) – a main component in lithium-ion batteries.
Green Li-ion’s process has been shown to significantly reduce production time – yielding pCAM in about 12 hours compared to the industry standard of around 70 hours – while ensuring 99% purity and emitting up to 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than virgin materials processing.
In total, Green Li-ion’s Atoka plant is projected to create 2 metric tons of pCAM at battery grade – the equivalent of 72,000 smartphone batteries per day – and the company plans to quadruple this capacity within the coming year.
“Green Li-ion’s installation closes a critical gap in the North American battery recycling supply chain,” said Leon Farrant, CEO and Co-Founder of Green Li-ion. “Electrification will require manufacturers to exert greater control over their critical mineral supplies. We aim to show American companies the benefits of fully vertically integrated battery recycling solutions when operating as part of an existing manufacturing process.”
