一個世紀(jì)的經(jīng)驗幫助 Clarios 建立了鋰的回收利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)。
去年春天，世界上最大的汽車電池制造商Clarios（柯銳世，原江森自控）在鋰離子電池回收獎的競賽第二階段中勝出。這個三階段組成的項目由美國能源部贊助，旨在開發(fā)和演示回收利用技術(shù)，一旦這些技術(shù)的規(guī)模擴(kuò)大，就有可能再回收90%的廢舊鋰電池，并將其中的關(guān)鍵回收材料重新引入美國供應(yīng)鏈。
Clarios獲得了能源部獎（總價值550萬美元），他們獲獎的理念在于開發(fā)和應(yīng)用新技術(shù)，該技術(shù)可以識別和分離鋰離子電池和鉛酸電池，確保每種化學(xué)物質(zhì)都有適當(dāng)且安全的回收方法。在比賽的第三階段，Clarios的目標(biāo)是在試驗項目中驗證其理念。
Muellerweiss與編輯Lindsay Brooke討論了回收混合動力和電動汽車電池的挑戰(zhàn)和機(jī)遇。
Lindsay Brooke：Clarios在回收鉛酸電池方面有超過100年的經(jīng)驗，回收率高達(dá)99%。你們在回收混合動力和電動汽車的電池方面有什么經(jīng)驗嗎？
Muellerweiss：是的。我們的經(jīng)驗始于1885年，在戴姆勒和奔馳制造出第一輛摩托車之前。如今，回收先進(jìn)鋰電池的這個過程，就處于當(dāng)年的同一個階段。目前，我們的工藝可以分離出大量的材料，但這項技術(shù)仍然不夠頂尖（達(dá)不到“圣杯”級別），不能收集電池級材料，并將其重新轉(zhuǎn)化為同等級別的新電池材料。
鉛酸的循環(huán)或閉環(huán)供應(yīng)鏈依賴于人們歸還舊電池。我們用于制造新電池的材料中有80%以上是回收的鉛和聚丙烯。未來的回收利用技術(shù)需要回收所有類型的電池和化學(xué)制品。在Clarios，我們專注于確保在整個生命周期內(nèi)為正確的應(yīng)用場景提供正確的化學(xué)材料。
Lindsay Brooke：從廣泛的陽極、陰極以及各種電池類型中分離和回收材料的目標(biāo)是正確的嗎？
Muellerweiss：德國汽車電池制造商Varta（2007年被江森自控收購）在戴姆勒和奔馳制造第一輛摩托車之前，就開始在德國回收鉛酸電池了。今天，我們正處于這一過程的第一階段，就像我們當(dāng)年一樣，我們正在研究如何回收利用更先進(jìn)的鋰電池。目前，我們可以分離出大量材料，但仍然不能夠完全將原本電池級的材料重新轉(zhuǎn)化為電池級的材料。
我們從回收鉛酸電池的經(jīng)驗中學(xué)到了這一點。OEM只會為新車裝配指定的原始材料，但后市場的人會問，我們已經(jīng)有了舊電池，收集它們還很容易，為什么一定要開采原始材料。從那時起，舊電池的材料開始進(jìn)入后市場的新電池當(dāng)中。最終，OEM允許使用回收材料。
Lindsay Brooke：數(shù)百萬輛豐田普銳斯的鎳氫電池發(fā)揮了多大的作用？
Muellerweiss：混動汽車電池組的價值已經(jīng)被得到了驗證，普銳斯的電池不會放在垃圾場。它們被收集并且重新使用在許多早期的普銳斯出租車當(dāng)中，或是用于后市場零售。我們能看到許多電池被重新用在汽車上，并且煥發(fā)了“第二春”，因為該電池組經(jīng)過了設(shè)計、驗證和測試，達(dá)到了車規(guī)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，并被證明可以安全使用。因此，雖然關(guān)于將電池組用于另一種能源儲存形式（可能是固定設(shè)施應(yīng)用）的討論是一個很有趣的話題，但該電池實際上是為在汽車中使用而設(shè)計的。我們看到，最有可能出現(xiàn)的趨勢是使用回收的電池延長汽車的壽命，就像使用翻新的變速箱、發(fā)動機(jī)和其他零部件一樣。
Lindsay Brooke：所以，已經(jīng)開始行動了嗎？
Muellerweiss：是的，這就是能源部鋰電池競賽令人激動的地方。他們有非常聰明的人用一些不可思議的方法來發(fā)現(xiàn)那些“圣杯”機(jī)會。美國阿崗國家實驗室的ReCell Center專注于將這些“用過的”材料轉(zhuǎn)化為電池級材料。我們還沒有完全做到這一點，但我們知道我們正在進(jìn)化的路上。一旦你有使用過的舊電池，就需要將他們集中到全國的主要市場上，這就會需要物流運輸。在一些情況下，存儲這些電池只是為了等待有足夠的回收量或只是為了管理物資流通。長遠(yuǎn)來看，必須有一個基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施來處理大量的舊電池。目前還達(dá)不到這種規(guī)模。
Lindsay Brooke：隨著電動汽車產(chǎn)量和銷量的增加，更多的混動車和電動車將會報廢。它們不會被扔在垃圾場，因為這些車的電池組仍有價值，可以回收利用。那么要如何處理這種不斷增長的混動和電動汽車電池呢？
Muellerweiss：短期內(nèi)，以普銳斯為例。它的壽命已經(jīng)到了盡頭，但電池完好無損。這些普銳斯電池不可能報廢，因為電池組的價值尚存，已經(jīng)有公司為后市場翻新普銳斯的電池。它又會裝到普銳斯中。這就像一輛發(fā)動機(jī)完好無損的克爾維特——發(fā)動機(jī)不太可能被報廢銷毀。
如果電池組存在故障，就需要安全且可控的處理。汽車制造廠對如何管理、回收這些電池組有非常詳細(xì)的流程。我們已經(jīng)看到其中一些電池和一些用于測試的電池已經(jīng)進(jìn)入市場。我們不希望看到的是鉛酸電池最終會被扔進(jìn)廢品場；它們應(yīng)該在這個階段前就被處理，我們會看到一些類似實踐，運用到鋰電池上。
讓我興奮的是一些改裝愛好者、機(jī)械師正在改裝電動汽車，并將電機(jī)裝進(jìn)經(jīng)典老車。這是一個不斷增長的電池再利用市場，盡管它確實包含一些責(zé)任問題，但正是這一點在電動汽車的早期衍生了許多創(chuàng)新。
Lindsay Brooke：因此，你是否看到了電池再利用的兩條途徑？一種是作為充電設(shè)施，如儲存太陽能和風(fēng)能。另一種是拆解舊電池，提取鋰。是這樣嗎？
Muellerweiss：這兩種途徑您都會看到。在我們考慮用作他用，煥發(fā)電池“第三次生命”之前，我們還是更傾向翻新電動汽車電池組件，并將其裝回汽車內(nèi)。考慮到車用的電池組，它最初的設(shè)計是用在汽車上。這種電池組最終可能在一輛車上使用幾十年。隨著固定存儲技術(shù)的迅速發(fā)展，相比于那些專門設(shè)計用于微電網(wǎng)和其他固定設(shè)施使用的電池，這些使用了20年的車用電池組并非一定真的適用于類似的場景。雖然將車用電池用于其他用途不是沒有優(yōu)點，但我們會看得更長遠(yuǎn)一點。
即使使用我們的鋰離子產(chǎn)品，我們也可以選擇使用哪種塑料——那么為什么不使用與傳統(tǒng)鉛酸電池相同的塑料呢？這樣可以讓我們不做修改，直接將該組件帶入回收系統(tǒng)。這可能意味著需要拆分一些別的部件，或與其他一些有技術(shù)、有能力的公司合作。我們正在利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)開發(fā)、處理和回收多種化學(xué)物質(zhì)的能力。同時，稀土材料和來自剛果共和國的鈷等更“沖突來源”（來自地緣不穩(wěn)地區(qū)）的材料是更有價值的。
A century of experience is helping Clarios build the lithium-reuse network.
Last spring, Clarios, the world’s largest automotive battery maker formerly known as Johnson Controls, emerged a winner in the second phase of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize competition. The three-phase program, sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, aims to develop and demonstrate processes that, when scaled, have the potential to profitably capture 90% of all discarded or spent lithium-based batteries in the U.S., and re-introduce key recycled materials into the U.S. supply chain.
Clarios’ winning concept for the DoE prize (worth a total of $5.5 million) focuses on developing and applying technologies to identify and separate lithium-ion batteries from lead-acid types, ensuring the proper and safe recycling methods for each chemistry. In Phase III of the competition, Clarios aims to validate its concept in pilot programs.
Clarios has over 100 years of experience in recycling lead-acid batteries, at a rate of 99%. Are there learnings you are applying to hybrid and EV batteries?
Yes. Our experience began before Daimler and Benz built their first [1885] motorcycle. Today, we’re at about the same point in the process with recycling advanced lithium batteries as we were back then. Currently our process can separate that wide spectrum of materials, but the technology isn’t yet at the ‘holy grail’ stage − of being able to harvest battery-grade materials and turn them right back into equal-grade materials for new batteries.
The circular or closed-loop supply chain for lead-acid relies on the ability of people to return their used batteries. Over 80 percent of the materials that we use for new batteries are recycled lead and polypropylene. Future recycling demand will require all types of batteries and chemistries. At Clarios we’re really focused on ensuring the right chemistry for the right application across its life cycle.
Separating and reclaiming materials from the wide spectrum of anode and cathode constituents, and from the variety of cell form factors, is the goal, correct?
The German automotive battery maker Varta [purchased by JCI in 2007] first recycled a lead-acid battery in Germany before Daimler and Benz built their first motorcycle. Today, we’re at about the first stage of the process as we look at recycling advanced lithium batteries as we were way back then. Currently we can separate that wide spectrum of materials, but we may not yet be at the ‘holy grail’ of being able to take battery-grade materials and turn them right back into battery-grade materials.
We learned that from our experience with lead acid batteries. The OEs would spec only virgin materials for new-vehicle assembly, but it was the aftermarket people who asked why we had to mine virgin materials when we already had them available in used batteries -- and could collect them easily. That’s when materials from used batteries began entering the aftermarket’s new batteries. Eventually the OEM specs allowed use of recycled materials.
To what degree are the nickel metal-hydride batteries used in millions of Toyota Priuses in play?
Hybrids’ battery pack value is proven. Prius batteries don’t sit in junk yards. They’re being collected and rebuilt for taxicab use in many of the early Priuses out there, and for aftermarket service batteries. We’re seeing a lot of second life in the battery’s original application because that pack was designed, validated, and tested to automotive grade, and proven to be safe in use. So, while the discussions about using that pack for another energy-storage source, perhaps a stationary application, might be an interesting topic, that battery was really designed for use in a vehicle. What we’re seeing is the most likely trend to emerge is batteries being used to extend the life of the vehicle, in the same industry experience as remanufactured transmissions, engines and other components.
So, the ball is rolling?
Yes, that’s where the DoE Lithium competition is so exciting. They have very smart people with some incredible tools looking at those ‘holy grail’ opportunities. Argonne National Laboratory’s ReCell Center is focused on taking those ‘used’ materials and turning them into battery-grade materials. We’re not quite there yet but we know we’re on the evolutionary path. And once you have used batteries in hand, you need to aggregate them across major markets, across the country. That requires transporting them, in some cases storing them to wait for available capacity or just to manage material flow. There has to be an underlying infrastructure, long term, to handle a large magnitude of batteries. Currently the scale that’s required isn’t there.
As EV production and sales volumes increase, there will be hybrids and EVs crashed and reaching their end of life. They won’t likely end up in junk yards because they’ve got a valuable battery pack in them to be harvested. How will this steadily increasing stream of hybrid and EV batteries be handled?
In the short term take a Prius, for example. It’s reached the end of its life and has an intact battery. It’s likely that today, those Prius batteries won’t even make it to the scrapper because the pack has a known value and there are companies remanufacturing Prius batteries for aftermarket service. It goes right back into a Prius. It’s like a wrecked Corvette with an intact engine – the engine isn’t likely to go into a shredder.
And if a battery pack is not intact, it needs to be safely and manageably handled. The automakers have very specific procedures for how to manage and recover those packs. We’re already seeing some of those batteries, and some batteries used in testing, come in. One thing we hate to see is lead-acid batteries end up in scrap yards; they should have been removed before that stage. We’ll see some similar practices with lithium types.
What excites me is the gearheads, the mechanics, who are retrofitting EVs and upgrading classic cars with electric engines. There’s a growing market for battery reuse there, although it does contain some questions of liability. But it’s what has spurred a lot of innovation in the early days of EVs.
So, you see two pathways for battery reuse? One would be in the charging infrastructure, for grid buffering of solar and wind, for example. The other would be to disassemble used cells to mine them for their lithium content. Correct?
You’ll see all of the above. There are opportunities to remanufacture EV packs and return them to use in vehicles before what we would consider a ‘third life’ in a different application. But if you look at that pack, it’s original design intent was use as original equipment in a vehicle. That very pack might ultimately serve for a couple of decades in a vehicle. Stationary storage technology is evolving quickly as well. With the right cell chemistry across the life cycle, that pack after 20 years of use may have been surpassed by alternative chemistries that were designed for micro grids and other stationary applications. There is some merit in using vehicle batteries for other purposes, but we see that further out.
Even with our lithium-ion products, we make choices in what plastics to use – so why not use the same ones from our conventional lead-acid products? It allows us to take that component directly into our recycling system without modification. It might mean more separation is needed in some of the other components, and partner with other companies that have technologies and capacity to do it. We’re using that network to develop capabilities to handle and recover multiple chemistries. The rare-earth materials and the more ‘conflicted-source’ materials such as cobalt coming from the Republic of Congo that are valuable.
豐田工廠已經(jīng)為普銳斯（Toyota Prius）等車型實行了電池組報廢方案。（豐田）
Adam Muellerweiss 是Clarios的首席可持續(xù)發(fā)展官，也是負(fù)責(zé)電池聯(lián)盟（Battery Coalition）的主席，該聯(lián)盟由OEM、大型車隊廠商、汽車零部件商和其他零售商組成，致力于建立鋰電池的閉環(huán)回收利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)。