Umicore Battery Recycling Process & Flow Sheet
The UMICORE process is dedicated to the recycling of rechargeable Lithium ion (Li-ion) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries and battery packs, transforming end of life rechargeable batteries into new batteries.
Umicore's Battery recycling Process & Flow Sheet
The battery recyclingprocess, which relies on all the latest technologies developed in Umicore’s research & development centre, has a lot of proven advantages and is including:
- a melting operation: rechargeable batteries, battery packs and other input materials are injected into a furnace without any pre-processing, minimising all hazardous risks
- a preferment gas cleaning of installation equipped with the new technology to make the formation dioxin and furan impossible
- well controlled melting conditions so that a clean slag can be produced and further re-used in construction and/or as aggregate for concrete.
- a cobalt & nickel refining installation where the cobalt & nickel containing alloys can be further treated so that pure cobalt and nickel are prepared.
- followed by a process for transformation of cobalt products into the final lithium cobalt dioxide LiCoO2 which is then used in the production of new lithium ion batteries.
By developing a sustainable and cost-efficient UMICORE battery recycling process, Umicore is the only company in the world proposing a real closed loop solution for Li-ion batteries combined with an environmentally sound management of these end-of-life batteries and high recycling and/or recovery rates.