A Canadian carbon science company and its unnamed partner are set to make a full-scale lithium-ion battery from recycled/up-cycled materials.
The two firms will use material from an electric car power pack and the up-cycled anode material from Saint Jean Carbon (SJC) to make the cells.
They will then make two identical cells, one with new material and one with up-cycled materials, and test them to more than 10,000 cycles to create a realistic sampling test.
SJC is hoping the results will prove the life cycle of the raw material can be re-used repeatedly— reducing the battery industry’s demand on mining and the raw material chain.
It is worth nothing, however, that SJC has interests in a graphite mine in Quebec, Canada.
The recycling project will be completed in three stage. The first will include a proprietary and patented system for dismantling and separating the chemistry and hard materials.
The second will be the designing and re-engineering of the surfacing of the raw materials.
The third will be the testing of the new and recycled cells.
If the results are positive the companies plan to use the batteries in a test vehicle.
Paul Ogilvie, CEO, said: “We have always had concerns about the significant amount of raw materials needed for lithium-ion batteries. Frankly making the environmentally sound energy storage devices not so environmentally friendly when you dispose of them.”
The company anticipates the project will take six months to complete.
