Battery recycling as an important component of the circular economy

Batteries are not just a core technology for electromobility. Storing electricity is essential for the success of the energy transition. The Battery Network Bavaria was founded at the end of July to bring together the players along the value chain. One aspect of the network's work is battery recycling, which is an important building block for the development of a circular economy in Bavaria. Find out more in the interview with Peter Meißner from Priorec, a subsidiary of the Büchel Group, and Leonard Höcht from the Energy & Construction division of Bayern Innovativ GmbH.

Leonard, what goals are you pursuing with the Battery Network Bavaria?

Leonard Höcht: There are many players in Bavaria who are working on this topic. BayBat, for example, or BMW is also researching battery technologies and some of the players already know each other. But there needs to be more networking, more transparency about who is actually already on the move. One goal is actually to map the entire value chain, from basic research to application. And if you make the whole thing transparent, you might also see where there are still white spots, where players might still be able to get involved or where research projects are still needed, for example.

Why is battery recycling such a big topic?

Leonard Höcht: Well, it's exciting because you can of course also buy raw materials by importing batteries. This can be exciting for the provision of secondary raw materials. This means that battery production, for example, is no longer so dependent on imports. But it also makes sense if you look at the circular economy in general in the context of sustainability.

Keyword: urban mining. Your area of expertise, Mr. Meißner, right?

Peter Meißner: Yes, the Büchl Group and the specialist company Priorec come from the disposal of waste from the automotive industry. It was clear very early on that batteries were coming - before the big wave of e-mobilization began, and in this respect we prepared ourselves for this new waste stream, which actually has many special features that other waste streams do not have. It doesn't exist yet. We are expecting the volumes to come back in the next few years. This is just starting and we have had to clarify many new safety issues and the training of personnel involved in dismantling and recycling is also a very, very important point, for example.

What challenges does battery recycling bring with it?

Peter Meißner: I think the big issue that is often overlooked in the discussion about battery recycling is that a disposal process has to take place first. In other words, the collection of these batteries into suitable containers with the appropriate permits and vehicles. And that's where the problem actually begins, because we don't just have a few, for example OEMs, that have batteries, but electromobility and batteries are used in almost all sectors: by municipal companies that use buses, by construction companies, by solar companies that have storage systems ... In other words, the entire economy is actually being supplied with batteries today and that means we have to have structures in place to collect these things in the first place. That is the big logistical challenge and then the dismantling of these batteries begins, i.e. first getting to the actual battery, yes, in order to generate the raw materials for further recycling and this entire logistical process in particular has these safety risks. Fires can occur there, you can have to deal with critical batteries there, transportation takes place there, long storage processes etc. and these are the very practical challenges that are often not even seen.

How do you meet these challenges in concrete terms?

Peter Meißner: Firstly, you need the appropriate logistics. This is also known as ADR logistics, i.e. dangerous goods transportation, which is an important prerequisite that not everyone has. You need personnel who are trained in high-voltage, who are allowed to work with high-voltage batteries at all. Not everyone is allowed to do that either. And, of course, you also need a company that has the authorization to actually work with such batteries, to store them and to dismantle them. And this issue of licensing is a very, very, very big focus of the work. Insurance companies, fire protection concepts, fire departments and the like all play a role here. And then you really realize that it's a very broad field with completely new challenges.

Now you have the permits to store the batteries on your premises. What happens afterwards?

Peter Meißner: I think the really big challenge in battery recycling is - and this is also something that needs to be explained in a conversation like this today: We don't have just one type of battery. We have different cell types, different cathode materials, which means that this raw material is split into many, many sub-raw materials that also need to be treated differently. In other words, the big challenge is to adapt to this variety of possible battery types and cell chemistries. And that means it is a permanent learning process, and that is one of the biggest challenges for a network, to know at an early stage what battery technology is actually coming onto the market, where we then have to deal with disposal after three, five or seven years and there is simply a lot of information still missing. We actually have to work on this today with the batteries, with the dismantling of the batteries themselves.

What role does second use play in this context?

Peter Meißner: It is important to always consider second use as an option. This can probably already be done in the workshops or soon by the manufacturers of these batteries. Once a disposal process has been initiated, it is assumed that the batteries are generally intended for actual material recycling. But if the batteries are in order and the customers approve them, which is an important point, then we actually produce modules that are basically suitable for second use and these are then also supplied to the corresponding manufacturers of storage systems from secund use modules.

Keyword: circular economy. What needs to change so that you can master battery recycling even better?

Peter Meißner: The battery passport, which has now been established in the EU and contains the key battery data, has been launched. However, this does not guarantee that this data will be available for every battery that we have to dispose of somewhere. So we will have to think about how this data can be made available digitally. That is one thing. The second is that every battery manufacturer has to register in the EAR as a battery distributor. From our point of view, this could be used further and more data about the battery itself could also be stored there, for example: what cell chemistry is it, how is the cell constructed overall, how is the battery constructed, i.e. important information for later recycling. We still lack the information here, especially when there are manufacturers from America or China. This information does not reach the market as quickly as that from European manufacturers.

Are there any manufacturers who are already supplying data in the sense of design for recycling?

Peter Meißner: Well, from my experience of almost 30 years in waste management in almost all waste streams and products, I would say that is always a noble wish. But first of all, the focus is on the product properties and, with this in mind, the products are certainly built in such a way that they optimally meet the requirements. Recycling actually plays a subordinate role - and we don't think that's a good thing. The recycling industry has also always managed to meet the challenges that arise. You have to say that too. That's what we're here for. So in this respect, no, I don't think that this aspect is being looked at so much today; instead, the focus is on technical development scenarios. Cell-to-pack is something like that, or completely bonded battery modules that can no longer be separated for material recycling. We have a lot of experience in this area, and we can see that. But I don't have any hope that this will change in the direction of better dismantlability, so to speak. I think we have to adapt to this.

Comparable to the cell phone, where you used to be able to simply replace the battery - that's no longer really possible today.

Peter Meißner: Yes, we hope so, of course, and we can see that batteries now have a longer shelf life than we originally thought. Three or four years ago, we were talking about five, six or seven years. Today, we assume that a vehicle battery can certainly last ten years. This means that the life cycle is getting longer. And that's a good thing. Yes, there may also be a second use option for some, but the decisive factor is that we can recycle the raw materials with relatively little effort - and that's what matters, because it usually involves personnel and technical equipment. And this ultimately determines whether the recycling is successful. At the end of the day, it's a question of cost and that brings us to a crucial point, which I believe we can still control in the overall further development. We can see today with vehicles that over 80 percent of vehicles that are deregistered in Germany are not dismantled and recycled in Germany, but are sent abroad for raw material extraction or rebuilding, and batteries are of course also suitable for this route. We have to make sure that we don't run into a similar development, where we want to recycle raw materials here, but the batteries end up being used in other countries, and that's not an easy question to answer. Is that good or bad? It can certainly be seen as sustainable if used products are reused in other regions, provided they are properly recycled there. And as long as this is not the case, we should not simply hand over risky products such as batteries to foreign markets, but recycle them here in our country or in the EU.

Leonard, where are your points of contact in the Bavarian Battery Network?

Leonard Höcht: Well, we are still at the beginning in terms of form, because there are not only batteries for vehicles, but also batteries for stationary storage. There is not only lithium battery technology, but also solid-state batteries, accumulators ... But there is also vanadium redox flow or other redox flow technologies that we also want to look at. So in this respect we are open to all technologies. We're not saying that it's only about lithium-ion technology or only about batteries for electric cars - and that's exciting, of course, because there's still a lot going on in research at the moment - and we can also see that the first solid-state electrolyte batteries are already being used in cars. That is of course an exciting question as to how they can then be recycled. In the future, however, we need to bring these players together in general, to say what research expertise we actually have in Germany, in Bavaria, where can we tie in, where can we contribute to planned battery production sites? How can we ensure that this basic research is also applied, that we can perhaps make special batteries, which only have a very narrow range of applications, but that we keep this expertise in Bavaria or also keep production in Bavaria, to make this transparent? It would be very exciting to have this map that I mentioned, to say where in the value chain there are actually which players, how far they are in the technology readiness level, to classify everything and make it transparent, to network the players and of course to provide the information, among other things now with a podcast, so that you simply provide information, what are the challenges and where do you have to start?

What kind of map do you want to create?

Leonard Höcht: Well, it's a different metric. By the end of the year, we want to develop a map that shows competencies and the metric is not geography, where in Bavaria is actually who. I think you can find that out quite quickly. It's where someone is located along the value chain and that can then be identified. In other words, whether there are any gaps or where you can get involved.

What else are you planning in the Battery Network Bavaria?

Leonard Höcht: Well, what has already happened is that we have a patent analysis on lithium-ion batteries and redox flow technologies that we are analyzing. Who are the patent holders? Which patents were filed and in which year? Who are the players? We have already sent the analysis to the members. The network is also open, so anyone who would like to participate is welcome to contact me or us. What else is happening: we will present the results of this workshop in a webinar, i.e. which topics and formats are desired by the members - we don't want to ignore demand. And in any case, further events are planned, information events in person, but also webinars, meetings at the individual players, i.e. at the companies or research institutions, in order to get to know each other and network better.

The interview was conducted by Christoph Raithel, Team Leader Event at Bayern Innovativ GmbH.

Listen to the full interview as a podcast: