On September 23, the 42nd Academician Lecture Hall “New Energy Battery Recycling Status and Challenges” hosted by the Organization Department of Nanshan District Committee (District Talent Work Bureau) and organized by China Resources Land Urban Operation and Management (Shenzhen) Company Limited was held in the Talent Park, Seeking Virtue Pavilion. Foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, academician of the Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences, academician of the Canadian Academy of Engineering Xu Zhenghe systematically introduced the current situation and challenges of power battery recycling under the “double carbon” strategy. Nanshan District Talent Work Bureau, district “two representatives and one member”, high-level talents from universities, enterprises and the public audience of nearly 200 people listened to the lecture!

This academician lecture hall, in order to better promote the concept of green environmental protection, enhance the attractiveness of the lecture of Xu Zhenghe academician and educational, Jiecheng New Energy was invited to participate in the lithium battery recycling science and technology exhibition, for the public to friends popularize the lithium battery industry chain and lithium battery recycling and other knowledge, and introduced Jiecheng New Energy cutting-edge comprehensive utilization of retired lithium batteries, lithium recycling field of the digital development and the latest scientific research progress presenting lithium battery recycling industry innovation future. Recycling industry's innovative future. At the event site, there was an endless stream of guests, and the booth exhibits attracted a large number of visitors to stop to visit and exchange ideas.

Relying on more than ten years of experience in the field of lithium battery recycling, Jiecheng New Energy will provide strong kinetic energy for the sustainable development of new energy, create value for the society, and contribute to the realization of the dual-carbon goal through the construction of an innovative mode of omni-channel coverage, globalization, and the entire industrial chain as well as the digitization of the recycling of decommissioned power batteries.

Academician Xu Zhenghe shared a review

1, power battery into thousands of households, recycling imperative

Soon after the lecture, Academician Xu Zhenghe shared a set of data - in 2022, China's new energy vehicle sales of 6,887,000, an increase of 93.4% year-on-year. in the first half of 2023, China's cumulative production of power batteries of 293.6GWh, loaded with 1,521GWh, a year-on-year increase of 38.1%.

In the context of the rapid development of power batteries, academician Xu Zhenghe believes that, combined with national energy security and the realization of the “double carbon” goal, the importance of power battery recycling is reflected in two aspects.

On the one hand, it is resource recycling. “From the resource perspective, in order to ensure resource security, battery recycling is imperative.” Academician Xu Zhenghe said that the layout of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other key resources, the establishment of a battery production and recycling of the recycling system, through the battery recycling and battery materials production, can fundamentally affect the sustainable development of global resources.

On the other hand, is the consideration of environmental pollution. Academician Xu Zhenghe reminded that waste batteries are thermally unstable, while containing large amounts of heavy metals such as cobalt, nickel and manganese, as well as toxic organic components such as fluorine-containing electrolytes. “From an environmental perspective, battery recycling is equally imperative to avoid environmental pollution problems.”

2. Recycling difficulties and bottlenecks in the process

In the face of decommissioned power batteries, what is the current research status at home and abroad? Academician Xu Zhenghe took power lithium battery as an example, introduced its full life cycle value chain in detail, as well as the recycling process.

Academician Xu Zhenghe introduced that the decommissioned waste batteries, after pre-treatment using pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, direct repair and regeneration and other means of recovery and regeneration, to achieve closed-circuit recycling.

Pyrometallurgy does not require complex pre-treatment processes, and can directly put the appropriate size of waste batteries into the smelting furnace for high temperature smelting; hydrometallurgy requires pre-treatment such as discharging, mechanical crushing, and sieving, in order to obtain black powder; direct regeneration process requires a more complex pre-treatment process, in order to obtain high purity of the positive electrode waste material.

In the recycling process, decommissioned power batteries generally need to go through six major steps: discharge, dismantling, crushing, sorting, valuable metal recovery, and material regeneration. However, in the process of these steps, the low recovery rate, high consumption of chemicals, the risk of secondary pollution and other issues, also hindered the development of the decommissioned power battery recycling industry.

3、Tackle the problem of recycling, another way to “make things simple”

How to overcome these problems and promote the successful completion of the recycling of decommissioned power batteries?

Academician Xu Zhenghe analyzed that there are key challenges and opportunities: safe, efficient and controllable scale discharge technology; efficient and intelligent dismantling applicable to a wide range of batteries; efficient and safe crushing of decommissioned batteries; low-cost, green and efficient active material regeneration and so on.

Academician Xu Zhenghe shared his and his team's latest research on controlled flash shredding technology in detail at the lecture hall.

“The use of controlled flash crushing technology realizes one-step crushing, provides high-quality raw materials for the subsequent process, and simplifies the subsequent recycling process.” Academician Xu Zhenghe introduced.

Compared with traditional crushing technology, controlled flash crushing technology has six major advantages: no discharge link; no need for multi-stage crushing; full use of battery residual energy; harmless centralized treatment of electrolyte; wide applicability of battery types and sizes; and good dispersion of crushed products, which is conducive to subsequent separation.

At the same time, academician Xu Zhenghe is also studying how to carry out more efficient screening and recycling after crushing retired power batteries. This also includes microwave roasting to strengthen the black powder flotation separation, lithium iron phosphate direct repair, anode graphite repair and other cutting-edge technologies. Jiecheng New Energy and Academician Xu Zhenghe's team maintain close technical exchanges and sharing, and are committed to collaborating to promote the research and application of efficient and safe lithium battery recycling technology, and jointly help the lithium battery recycling industry develop in a high-quality and sustainable manner.