Three-in-one process recycles spent lithium batteries, captures CO₂ and generates catalysts—all at room temperature

 
Scientists from China have developed a new way to recycle lithium batteries that is a triple win for the planet. It not only extracts nearly all the lithium for reuse but also traps carbon dioxide and converts the remaining metal waste into high-performance catalysts for generating green energy.

Global battery crisis

Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used in everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles and renewable energy storage grids. But spent batteries that aren't recycled properly are an environmental concern because they can leak toxic metals and flammable chemicals into soil and water. The global volume of these used batteries has been projected to reach 381 million metric tons by 2050.

Current recycling methods are problematic. Traditional heat-based methods use massive furnaces, but they consume a lot of energy, and much of the lithium is lost in the process. Other methods rely on harsh acids and chemicals to dissolve the metals, but this just creates another problem. Namely, large volumes of liquid toxic waste that are expensive to treat and can potentially leach into soil and water.

To address these challenges, a joint team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Institute of Technology developed a three-in-one process to recycle old batteries, as described in a paper published in Nature Communications.

The breakthrough

First, the researchers put old battery parts into a high-energy ball mill. This specialized grinding machine rearranges the atoms in the battery material, forcing lithium to detach from other metals (nickel and cobalt).

Then they added a pressurized mixture of carbon dioxide and water, which pulled out more than 95% of the lithium, turning it into a high-purity liquid that can be reused. Because the process uses carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas stays within the recycling process rather than being released into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the leftover metal scraps are not thrown away. The grinding process alters their molecular structure, making them useful catalysts for producing green hydrogen fuel.

"This work provides fundamental insights into cationic disordering mechanisms [how atoms move during grinding] with the practical development of green battery recycling technologies, establishing an energy-efficient closed-loop route from waste electrodes to sustainable energy conversion systems," stated the research team in their paper.

In tests, the technology successfully recovered nearly all the lithium from several different types of used batteries. Remarkably, it works at room temperature and normal pressure.

The researchers believe their innovation is suitable to be scaled up for industrial use.