ITE improves the sustainability of lithium batteries by revaluing agroforestry and industrial waste

VALENCIA, 18 Apr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Technological Institute of Energy (ITE) is developing a new project called Rebalire through which it addresses the issue of battery sustainability by addressing two key issues: obtaining raw materials and recycling them.

Thus, the research team is working, on the one hand, on optimizing the process for obtaining sustainable silicon and carbon for the development of lithium battery anodes from the revaluation of local agroforestry and industrial waste. And, on the other hand, it intends to design a lithium battery recycling process in a laboratory environment in order to provide a solution to the imminent arrival of a large number of batteries at their end of life cycle.

ITE experts have pointed out that, faced with the reality of climate change, it is "necessary" to act with determination: "We barely have 12 years to reduce carbon emissions, so the Valencian Community -and Europe as a whole- - It must base its future on a sustainable economic strategy. This project contributes to this since it aims to revalue waste to extract materials for the development of anodes for lithium ion batteries. This will reduce the emissions produced by burning and managing agricultural waste as well to give them a second life, aligning themselves with the Zero Waste initiative marked by Europe", they explained.

Lithium ion batteries are made up of high-value materials that in some cases are scarce on land. For this reason, due to its growing demand, "there is a need to look for new sustainable and local sources that make it possible to improve the sustainability of the production process", they have influenced.

In addition, the new mobility requires a new generation of batteries with higher capacities and, for this, silicon -the second most abundant element in the earth's crust- is postulated as the best candidate since it is capable of increasing up to 10 times the capacity provided by the materials currently used to manufacture batteries.

Betting on sustainable silicon and carbon for the development of lithium battery anodes, based on the revaluation of local agroforestry and industrial waste, "will reduce dependence on other continents in the supply of these raw materials," they have pointed out.

Added to this is the fact that it is "fundamental" to improve its sustainability to mitigate the negative impact on the environment, carrying out a recycling of the batteries at the end of their life to recover the materials that compose them so that they can be reintroduced to the beginning of the value chain for the manufacture of new batteries.

The developments that will be carried out in the project "favor the strengthening of the competitive and innovative capacities of companies in the region to position themselves in the battery sector, which is currently in full expansion in the Valencian Community," they said.

The results that the project will provide are obtaining silicon-based materials obtained from waste that are suitable for the development of components for the new generation of lithium batteries, as well as new battery recycling strategies that allow the recovery of critical compounds. that compose it, such as cobalt, among others.

For this, strategies will be used that allow the reduction of energy consumption during the process, as well as the use of techniques and chemical agents that provide greater sustainability of the overall process.

In order to carry out this research, funding has been requested from the Generalitat Valenciana through aid for the IITT for innovation projects in collaboration with companies within the framework of Specialization of the General Directorate of Innovation through the Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society.