On July 9th the ACROBAT consortium partners visited the Accurec Recycling facilities in Krefeld. The visit began with a tour of the site where waste batteries are accepted and stored. The partners were then shown the sorting facilities, R&D, and analytical labs. They also had the opportunity to see both full-scale and pilot scale installations used for treating and recycling Li-ion batteries.
Following the visit to Accurec Recycling, the partners traveled to the Fraunhofer ILT institute in Aachen. Here, they explored the laser labs, with a particular focus on the LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy). The in-line LIBS characterization installation, developed within the ACROBAT project, was demonstrated. This installation allows to continuously measure the composition of black mass.
The remainder of the day was dedicated to presentations and discussions by the partners on ACROBAT’s progress during the period from February 2024 to July 2024. The presentations covered the five work packages (WP0-WP4) of the ACROBAT project. Key developments included:
- A dedicated pre-treatment process to recover black mass from waste LFP batteries.
- A process to recover electrolyte materials.
- In-line LIBS analyses of black mass.
- A lithium recovery route yielding lithium hydroxide monohydrate as the final product.
- A fast direct regeneration process for spent LFP material from black mass derived from a mixture of spent LFP batteries.
These advancements highlight the consortium’s commitment to enable LFP battery recycling.
