The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed two lithium-ion battery technologies to companies aiming to eliminate thermal runaway and deliver a closed loop recycling system.
The first license was to Soteria Battery Innovation Group (BIG), which also exclusively optioned a technology developed to eliminate thermal runaway in mechanically damaged lithium-ion batteries.
The technology designed for electrodes and foils is designed to break in a pre-defined geometry when the battery is physically damaged, effectively isolating the damaged part.
This can minimise the associated generated heat and avoid thermal runaway.
The technology will be especially effective in vehicles, where physical damage can occur in accidents and other mechanical events.
The technology is immediately available to the 70 members of Soteria’s consortium for R&D and product development. When the option is exercised, a license to practice the technology commercially will be available to the entire industry through the Soteria BIG Consortium.
Brian Morin, Soteria’s chief executive officer, said: “Our goal is to gather the best lithium-ion battery safety technology from national labs, universities, or wherever it comes from, and make it available to the entire industry.
“In this way, and only in this way, can we ensure broad access to the technology needed to make batteries safe, ensuring their safe use in electric vehicles, air taxis, energy storage for solar and wind, electric and hybrid marine, military and other applications.”
The second license was to materials science company Momentum Technologies, which will use ORNL’s Membrane Solvent Extraction (MSX) process to recover 99.9% pure lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese oxides or sulfates depending on customer preferences and requirements.
MSX was developed by ORNL scientists as part of the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI).
The Texas, US-based firm’s Preston Bryant said the MSX technology would allow the firm to build processing plants at the sources of the waste, cutting out the need for shipping while increasing material recovery rates compared to traditional smelters.
Ramesh Bhave, who led the development of the MSX technology, said: “There is an urgent need for having a domestic resource for some of these elements. There is little to no mining, downstream refining or recycling in the US for these elements and the traditional technology is quite complex and generates a lot of waste.
“Our technology contributes to a circular economy. We completely recycle end-of-life products without generating hazardous waste.”
Image: ORNL’s Ramesh Bhave in his laboratory in March 2019. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
