Battery & Electrification Technology - November/December 2024 - 16

EV Batteries
Redwood Materials will supply the Toyota Battery Manufacturing plant in North Carolina, scheduled
to open in 2025, with recycled cathode active material (CAM) and anode copper foil.
(Image: Cox Automotive)
Technicians in the recycling room wear highly
protective fully encapsulated suits, helmets
and breathing masks, since the shredding of
batteries produces potentially harmful airborne
particles. (Image: Cox Automotive)
Though dealing with high-tech EV batteries, the recycling process is mechanical and relatively
simple. Parts are constantly shredded and sorted into component materials and black mass.
(Image: Cox Automotive)
94% Material Recovery
For Cox, it's about a three-day recycling
process to ensure battery discharge, then
run everything through various shredders.
Powerful air separators divide big
pieces from smaller pieces, then actual
shredders tear the cells and contents
apart. At each stage, material is separated
into its component parts until eventually
part of it is the black mass containing
anode and cathode materials that can be
resold. According to Cox, it produces the
best, least-contaminated black mass on
the market, and the claim is backed by
partner Aleon Metals.
Tim Harris, Director of Operations
Management at Cox, said it's because of
the unique, dry recycling process. " Our
black mass is shredded in a dry process.
We don't push them down into water to
16
shred them, so we depower [the batteries]
to zero before we shred, " he said.
" Some other companies run it through a
water solution so they can shred live
modules. We depower them so they're
safe before we shred them. He also said
that process is environmentally cleaner.
" It's traveling up one conveyor. From
that point, it moves on to several crushing
pieces. When we go to crush it, get it
to that particular size we need. We also
have a series of separators that actually
break down these particular sizes [and]
get to what we need to get that really
clean black mass, " added Harris.
Being cleaner is a relative term in battery
recycling, though, and it takes effort
and consistency to successfully protect
workers and the surrounding area. Cox's
enormous recycling room had a gray haze
Toyota plans to use Redwood's recycled battery
components in some of its future EVs and
hybrids. (Image: Cox Automotive)
floating in it when SAE Media visited.
Thirty-two recycling techs, operating in
two shifts, work in fully encapsulated suits
and what look like 3M Versaflo air-supply
helmets. As for protecting the outside
world, exhaust air goes through a series of
filters before leaving the building.
The recycling center handles up to
2,000 modules a day, but workers said in a
more typical day they process about 1,000.
Clonts, Editor, SAE Media Group.
Sebastian
This article was written by
Blanco,
Editor-in-Chief,
Automotive Engineering also contributed
to this article. For more information, visit
www.mobilityengineeringtech.com. 
Battery & Electrification Technology, November/December 2024
Chris

https://www.mobilityengineeringtech.com

Battery & Electrification Technology - November/December 2024

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