Page 14 - ATZ WORLDWIDE

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Sectional model of a lithium-ion
electric-vehicle battery (© Audi)

rial cost of manganese and graphite – at the Congo. The latest developments RECYCLING AS SOLUTION
around 2.12 euros and 80 cents per kg on the raw materials market show TO THE SUPPLY CRISIS
respectively – is negligible, with a kilo- just how volatile the price of this
gram of cobalt costing 70 US dollars and highly sought-after metal really is. The German Mineral Resources Agency
nickel and lithium each costing almost In fact, it has tripled within just two (Dera) of the Federal Institute for Geosci-
11 euros per kilogram at the time of our years [1], climbing 26 % within the ences and Natural Resources has
research, the value of the 250-kg or so first quarter of 2018 alone. Given calculated that over 40 % of global
electric- vehicle battery of the compact mining conditions that are far from cobalt production goes into manufac-
car soon adds up to almost 50 euros per easy for such raw materials, the turing lithium-ion batteries. This also
kWh. It should be noted that these are price is unlikely to drop. Management puts it at the top of its hazard list in
just the costs of the basic cell materials con sultants Berylls Strategy Advisors the latest risk assessment report pub-
for the Li-NMC (lithium nickel manga- therefore assume that the “produc- lished in June 2018 [3]. Furthermore,
nese cobalt oxide) battery commonly tion, packaging and ancillary areas the “dark side of the raw materials
used in today’s electric vehicles. of the traction battery will represent supply chain” [4] also gives electric
Some of these raw materials are up to 40 % of the value creation of an mobility a bad name. For the German
unpredictable, for example, expensive e-vehicle” [2]. But this is not the only Dera, this is reason enough to recom-
cobalt, which is mined primarily in risk faced by electric mobility. mend “developing a diversified supply

Recycling efficiency of conventional processes and of the Duesenfeld process relating to a lithium-ion battery (without casing)
(source: www.duesenfeld.com)

State of the Art Duesenfeld 2018 Duesenfeld 2020
27 %* 56 to 75 %* 96 %*
Separator Separator Separator
Electrolyte 4 % Electrolyte 4 % Electrolyte 4 %
16 % Al case 13 % 16 % Al case 13 % 16 % Al case 13 %

Lithium 2 % Lithium 2 % Lithium 2 %
Cu foil Cu foil Cu foil
11 % Cobalt 7 % 11 % Cobalt 7 % 11 % Cobalt 7 %
Nickel 6 % Nickel 6 % Nickel 6 %

Manganese 6 % Manganese 6 % Manganese 6 %
Anode coating Anode coating Anode coating
19 % 19 % 19 %
Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen
Al foil 11 % Al foil 11 % Al foil 11 %
5 % 5 % 5 %
Green: material recycling Red: other recycling or disposal (landfill, construction material, incineration) * On battery cell level, normalized after substraction of oxygen
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