Scientists at the University of Surrey have discovered a microbial electrochemical method that can recover 90-95% of the lithium from used lithium-ion batteries.
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The development provides a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional recovery methods, which might be broadened to reclaim additional valuable battery metals such as cobalt.
The BioElectrochemical LIthium rEcoVEry (BELIEVE) project, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), intended to address one of the most significant difficulties in lithium-ion battery recycling: lowering environmental and economic costs.
Lithium-ion batteries power so much of our modern technology, from phones to electric vehicles, but current recycling processes remain energy-intensive, costly and inefficient. Our goal was to develop a bioelectrochemical system (BES) that uses microbial electrochemical technology to extract high-purity lithium from used batteries – which is currently very difficult to do.
Claudio Avignone Rossa, Professor, Systems Microbiology, University of Surrey
Traditional methods recover modest amounts of lithium, often as low as 5%, but more sophisticated procedures provide higher yields but require corrosive chemicals.
This project is timely due to stringent legislation for material security, particularly tech-metals like lithium. With this respect, extraction-precipitation, electrosynthesis and crystallization have been tried to recover lithium from brines; however, the methods have posed specific challenges, including low recovery of lithium compounds.
Jhuma Sadhukhan, Professor, University of Surrey
Sadhukhan added, “Biotechnology-based biorefining is needed to close the LIB loop and thereby improve product grades and recovery rates, process robustness, social justice, economic returns, health, safety, environment and legislation. In this research, we optimized a biological system to recover high purity lithium from industrial black mass, a used lithium-ion battery material after thermal and mechanical processing, separating aluminum and iron.”
Dr. Siddharth Gadkari, Lecturer, Chemical Process Engineering, University of Surrey stated, “By harnessing specially selected microorganisms to transfer electrons and extract lithium, we have developed a cleaner, more sustainable approach that dramatically reduces reliance on harmful chemicals.
He added, “Our next steps will focus on proposals to expand the technology to recover and separate all valuable metals from batteries, including high-value cobalt, nickel and manganese. While challenging, this is a crucial step toward establishing a truly circular battery economy.”
Dr. Marina Ramirez Moreno, Research Fellow, University of Surrey, noted, “Bioelectrochemical systems are incredibly versatile, offering a wide range of possibilities thanks to the many variables we can fine-tune. While we’re still in the early stages and have faced our fair share of challenges, these early results are incredibly exciting.”
“Our work opens the door to further biotechnological innovation – bringing together techniques that have rarely been combined before to work in powerful synergy. Our aim is to enable the sustainable recovery of valuable metals like lithium, which are vital to modern life. We are eager to continue exploring and advancing this exciting field with future researchers,” stated Dr. Moreno.
Creating a scalable procedure for successfully recovering lithium, cobalt, and other important metals will reduce waste while decreasing reliance on environmentally destructive mining activities.
It also closely aligns with EU Green Deal 2020 requirements, which aim to achieve 65% recycling efficiency for lithium-ion batteries and 70% material recovery for lithium by 2030. Similar rules are expected in the UK, highlighting the importance of the BELIEVE project's contributions to sustainable technology and resource management.
The team intends to submit additional proposals to investigate how they can recover all metals from lithium-ion batteries.