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Lithium-ion battery recycler Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. will increase the capacity of the facility its developed in New York, US by more than 40%.

The Canadian firm will increase the input processing capacity of the ‘Hub’ facility from 25,000 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes of “black mass” annually (equivalent to around 90,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery equivalent feed annually). 

The Hub will turn black mass into battery grade materials to be returned to the lithium-ion battery supply chain .

The company estimates the Hub will require a total capital investment of around $485 million (+/-15%), which may be funded from existing balance sheet cash.

The Hub will be fully integrated with Li-Cycle’s existing network of facilities across North America that turns end-of-life batteries and battery manufacturing scrap into “black mass” containing nickel, cobalt and lithium.  

Li-Cycle’s Spoke facilities will be the primary suppliers of feedstock for the Hub. 

Once the Hub is fully operational, Li-Cycle expects to become one of the biggest US-based suppliers of battery grade advanced materials. 

Based on independent industry forecasts (including from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence) and the firm’s internal analysis, Li-Cycle estimates there could be nearly 250,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries available for recycling from manufacturing scrap in North America alone by 2025.

Multi-Year Strategic Collaboration with LG

Li-Cycle, LG Chem, and LG Energy Solution have entered into a ten-year manufacturing scrap supply and nickel sulphate off-take agreement non-binding letter of intent. 

The firms intend to cooperate on recycling nickel-bearing lithium-ion battery scrap and certain other lithium-ion battery materials to create a closed-loop ecosystem.  

Beginning in 2023, Li-Cycle will supply LGES and LGC with 20,000 tonnes of nickel contained in nickel sulphate from its Rochester Hub facility in New York. 

LGC and LGES together will make a $50 million equity investment in Li-Cycle at a price of $11.32/per common share, upon completion of the commercial agreements by March 13, 2022. 

A team from the University in Nevada, US has found lithium-ion batteries using recycled materials operate “at least as well” as batteries made with virgin commercial materials.

The researchers used physical tests, imaging, and computer simulations to compare new cathode materials to those recovered from used electric vehicle batteries using a recycling process being commercialised by Battery Resourcers.

The team was led by Yan Wang, professor in the university’s Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.

The study was published in the journal Joule.

The team showed the recycled LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 had a superior rate and cycle performance, which was verified by various industry-level tests. 

Specifically, the researchers reported 1Ah cells using the recycled material had a 4,200 cycle life and 11,600 cycles at 80% and 70% capacity retention.

Meanwhile, its rate performance is 88.6% better than commercial powders at 5C. 

Wang said: “As demand grows for lithium-ion batteries, it will be important to recycle materials from used batteries, especially batteries from electric vehicles.

“Battery manufacturers want to know that recycled cathode materials are not inferior to new cathode materials. This research shows that recycled materials can electrochemically match or outperform pristine, state-of-the-art cathode materials from tier 1 suppliers.”

Wang collaborated on the paper with researchers from A123 Systems, Battery Resourcers, Argonne National Laboratory, Rice University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)

Bipolar lead battery developer Advanced Battery Concepts has promoted its chief operating officer (COO) Michael Everett to president of the US firm.

Everett will lead industrialisation of the company’s processes and develop equipment required for OEMs to manufacture batteries using its patented GreenSeal technology at scale volumes.

The equipment will be for the continuous production of electrode assemblies including execution of novel and efficient transfer pasting methods.

Further development efforts include the architectural definition and the development of formation processes and equipment necessary to produce bipolar batteries. 

Everett said: "By industrialising and commercialising GreenSeal manufacturing equipment, the company has reached yet another significant milestone on its mission to make better batteries available to global energy storage markets.

"GreenSeal batteries unlock much higher value for the lead battery industry than historically achievable, as measured by the higher performance, longer lifetime and more efficient use of raw materials and resources in manufacturing, and there is more to come.”

Dr. Edward Shaffer, CEO and founder of ABC, said: "Michael has been a great addition and contributor to our team and its growth over the past two years. His ability to lead our industrialisation program and focus on process improvements has been a key to his promotion to president.” 

Everett, who joined ABC in 2019 as COO, has previously worked as CTO at ultracapacitor firm Maxwell Technologies and more recently senior vice president engineering at deep cycle lead battery firm Trojan Battery.

Residential storage system

ABC launched a residential storage system using lead batteries to address the growing need for emergency power in the US during September.

The system, called Home Emergency Energy Storage (HEES), relies on the firm’s patented GreenSeal bipolar batteries.

The HEES system can be situated in about eight-square feet of interior space preferably located near the main circuit box. 

The system can provide up to 6kW and draws upon a storage reserve of 18kWh to power critical loads. Run times can be up to two full days.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is set to open a new US facility on its Richland campus to accelerate scientific discovery in chemistry, materials science, and computing.

The $90 million Energy Sciences Center will bring together collaborative research among PNNL scientists, industry, and partners at the University of Washington, Washington State University, and other major institutions in the US and abroad.

Core funding came from the U.S. Department of Energy ($90 million) and the State of Washington’s Clean Energy Fund ($8 million, which paid for the purchase of specialised scientific instrumentation), Battelle Memorial Institute and PNNL.

The 140,000-square-foot facility will feature a combination of research laboratories, flexible-use open spaces, conference rooms, and offices for some 200 PNNL researchers, visiting scientists and engineers, and support staff.

The facility will bring together existing and new scientific instrumentation, and around 250 researchers from various disciplines.

IMAGE: PNNL’s Energy Sciences Center (Photo by Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Battery manufacturer Æsir Technologies is set to build its nickel-zinc gigafactory in South Dakota, US, to service the backup power markets. 

The Rapid City plant’s planned two billion watt hours of production capacity will serve the data center and 5G network back-up power markets.

Phase 1 of the $250 million investment includes the state of South Dakota providing debt support for the building and equipment with funding up to $1 million in workforce development. 

Randy Moore, Æsir’s CEO, said they chose South Dakota because the economic development package put forward by the state was significantly superior to the other 20 locations being considered.

He said: “Incentives offered by many other locations consisted of tax abatements of taxes that don’t exist in South Dakota. 

“Here, the incentives provided true leverage to make our financial plan come together.” 

Æsir said that “most” of the equipment used in the manufacturing process will come from Wirtz Manufacturing in Michigan, US.

The firm plans to directly source its nickel laterites from the Philippines and domestically convert it to nickel hydroxide- the main ingredient for its cathode. 

The data center market has traditionally used lead-acid batteries, but has been turning more and more to lithium-ion.

Bob Galyen, a member of Æsir’s technical advisory board and former CTO of CATL, said: “Of all the possible battery chemistries to be applied in a data center or 5G solution, nickel zinc is probably the best suited due to its energy density, safety attributes, and broad operating temperature range.”

The firm's Joplin facility works with the US Navy and Air Force to develop nickel zinc technology for Virginia Class Submarines and the Minuteman III ICBM, respectively. 

Æsir’s batteries are produced under non-exclusive license to use ZAF Energy Systems’ intellectual property.