The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $8 million to a project team, including the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI), to enhance consumer battery recycling programs, economics, and state/local collections. ESRI’s $1 million sub-grant for three years will fund the collection of used consumer batteries, conduct electrochemical tests, and assess the risk of fire hazards to develop safe shredding technology.
The project is led by ExPost Technology Inc., with partners including Carbon Critical Inc., University of Akron, University of California San Diego, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of Chicago, to create an advanced mobile machinery system for pre-processing used consumer electronics with batteries and stand-alone batteries. This innovative system would integrate zero-emission shredding and extraction techniques to mitigate the risks of fire and chemical hazards during transportation.
With an increasing trend in the demand for stationary energy storage and electric vehicles, the lithium battery market is projected to grow as much as tenfold by 2030, making it essential to invest in programs that support sustainable, reduced-cost recycling of consumer batteries for a secure, resilient, and circular domestic supply chain of critical materials. According to the DOE, the funded projects will increase consumer participation in consumer electronics battery recycling, improve the economics of battery recycling to spur greater market demand, and support collection programs at the state and local levels. The project objectives support the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries goal of achieving 90% recycling of consumer content by 2030.