RECYCLING OF LITHIUM BATTERIES

Extover® for fire protection

Tons of lithium batteries accumulate as waste worldwide every year and the volume is increasing. As the number of electric cars, e-bikes and stationary energy storage systems increases, recycling lithium batteries is becoming an important issue. New concepts for the future are required in order to process and reuse the input materials.

With conventional recycling methods, the battery cells are usually broken down mechanically or thermally in order to then reclaim the valuable metals. But since traction batteries contain a much higher proportion of active materials, controlled disassembly with subsequent separation is sensible. Automation is difficult to realise due to the challenging ambient conditions (e. g. dust) and large number of battery versions. Significant manual effort is therefore required. The cells are mechanically broken up with a shredder and then divided into their components.

The risk of fire is especially high with old or defective batteries, because the state is often not definable. The electrolyte fluid poses an added challenge. Short circuits during the shredding of insufficiently discharged cells can quickly ignite the electrolyte.

Generally speaking, questions about recycling lithium batteries remain to be answered. Extover® serves as a versatile fire protection agent for this field of application today. Please contact us!