Within the lithium battery manufacturing industry, there has been a major push towards the recycling and reuse of lithium batteries. This is due to the growing demand for lithium batteries in numerous applications including electric vehicles, consumer electronics and industrial appliances.
The lithium battery market has rapidly increased over the years, especially for the application of electric vehicles. Electric vehicle batteries contain solvents, plastics, electronic components and metals such as cobalt, nickel and lithium. Lithium batteries beyond their lifecycle will be packed and shipped to a specialist battery recycling plant. The growing demand has forced companies to prioritise battery recycling to recover rare essential metals.
Our systems are designed to efficiently remove organic recalcitrant compounds from wastewater used in lithium battery recycling processes, ensuring cleaner water for reuse.
Our technologies offer a sustainable approach to water treatment in battery recycling, removing over 95% of Total Organic Carbon and enabling significant water reuse, reducing environmental impact.
Our systems prioritise the reduction of hazardous waste by effectively treating polluted water without the need for harmful chemical additives, ensuring compliance with stringent environmental regulations.
In battery recycling, the batteries are first discharged for safety purposes, and then the battery is dismantled to gain access to the cells containing the metals. The cells are then crushed to expose and recover the metals, which leaves a black powder known as black mass. For the metals to be recovered, the black mass goes through a process known as hydrometallurgy, which produces water containing organic solvents and electrolytes. As more battery batches are treated, the organic content levels in the water rise and the organics need to be removed for water reuse.
Our advanced technologies have numerous benefits associated with purifying and reusing water in lithium-ion battery recycling, reducing waste and the environmental footprint. This innovative approach supports the circular economy and aligns with global sustainability goals, making Arvia Technology essential in the shift to a greener future
Through our experience dealing with clients involved in battery recycling, we are confident that our technology can efficiently remove organic contaminants in process water so that it can be reused. Ellenox can deal with variation in organic levels to suit the client requirements.
We have proven the Ellenox to be an extremely effective solution for the destruction of organics associated with battery recycling, to allow for water reuse.
Increasingly stringent environmental regulations will mean that battery recycling (most likely to be carried out in countries where many electric vehicles are operated) will be further regulated in years to come.
With water becoming increasingly scarce and its continuity of supply sometimes compromised, water used in recycling processes (both the initial shredding of cells and the subsequent chemical treatment of black mass) must be recycled and reused as much as possible.
There is no need to replace media, as ours regenerates during the process. Only one minimal top-up is required annually, taking less than one hour, meaning the purchase of a back-up process is unneeded due to the extremely high up-time of our technology.
Our dual technology can achieve removal to minimal levels. The organics found in lithium battery wastewater include: dimethyl carbonate, ethyl methyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate, cyclohexylbenzene and ethylene glycol.
Our media continues to absorb these contaminants even at low concentrations, achieving impressive removal rates—essential for compliance with stringent regulations. It will also increase your facility’s water reuse.
As our technology does not need chemical dosing, there are no chemicals to manage onsite and low operation requirement due to combining adsorption and electrochemistry to concentrate the pollutants into the media and oxidise them.
The breakdown of products can sometimes be more hazardous than the original compounds. As our technology does not produce any waste, there is no sludge production, and all organics are oxidised, meaning no expensive secondary disposal routes as there is no need for disposal.
Jerome Budin
Aquaculture Consultant
Book a meeting at your convenience to talk to one of our specialists about removing lithium-ion from your wastewater. Or send us an enquiry.
The extraction of lithium and the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries both present major environmental issues. Most lithium is extracted by an evaporative process. The resultant brine also carries many other chemicals.
In the case of leaks or overflows, it can cause immense damage to watercourses and aquatic and animal life. Also, many areas where lithium is extracted are also in areas of extreme water scarcity, creating potential conflicts with people, industry and agriculture.
Likewise, lithium battery manufacturing can present environmental issues, and leaks from plants are not unknown.
Therefore, Arvia’s industrial wastewater reuse has a powerful environmental purpose and makes sense from a conservation aspect.
Arvia’s Ellenox water treatment systems can remove many organic compounds, including many of those used in battery recycling, down to trace levels to ensure efficient water reuse.
Arvia’s Ellenox™ systems can offer a permanent and easy-to-commission solution for polluted water used in battery recycling. The lithium batteries contain a wide range of recalcitrant organics, and our Nyex technology can remove over 95% of TOC from the battery wastewater.
This means water reuse in any recycling plant will increase considerably, and water sent to the sewers or watercourses will be well within current environmental limits.
Arvia’s systems can be retrofitted in various positions within a water treatment train and have the benefit of no moving parts and requiring little maintenance. They also have the advantage of not requiring tip-ins of hazardous materials.
For a detailed explanation of how the Arvia Ellenox wastewater recycling system works, see our Ellenox water treatment process page.
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