Eramet is starting to recycle batteries, thus preparing a shift towards the critical metals of the energy transition. South of Paris, the company is testing the separation of metals from used electric car batteries. The goal is to recycle and reuse them in new batteries. With the hope of eliminating by 2050 the CO2 emissions of our current oil-fuelled vehicles.
Battery recycling, an urban mine for Europeans according to Eramet
Eramet defends the fact that the recycling of used batteries will be the “urban mine” of Europeans, deprived of several basic raw materials. Recycling these metals is especially important as demand for electric cars, which use batteries to store energy, is growing. The needs are so enormous to ensure the electrification of the world and to abandon fossil fuels, that it will be necessary “to relaunch mines to extract new metals and to develop recycling, while continuing to import into Europe”, underlines Colin Mackey, representative in Europe of the mining giant Rio Tinto.
Critical metals, such as nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium, are essential for battery production. They are also used in other areas, such as renewable energy, smartphones, computers and electronic devices. The recycling of these metals is therefore crucial to reduce Europe’s dependence on the outside world.
The “black mass”, a precious material
Crushed, the anodes and cathodes of the batteries are reduced to a blackish powder, called “black mass”. This dark mixture of nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium combines all the metals needed to collect and conduct electricity inside a battery. It remains to separate them by a process called “liquid-liquid”. At the end of a long line of filtering, sieving and purification, the jars of green nickel sulfate granules are next to those of cobalt sulfate (copper red) and lithium carbonate (white) on the lab bench.
The recycling of these metals is economically interesting because, unlike the fuel burned by thermal engines, these metals are 95% recyclable. Recycling also limits the environmental impact of mining these metals, which can be very destructive.
The production of electric batteries has a significant environmental impact, particularly because of the rare materials used in their manufacture. Recycling of batteries allows to limit these impacts by reusing precious metals.
Until now, no European plant has processed black mass. Eramet plans to tackle this problem by launching a pilot plant in Trappes in September 2023 to test the hydro-metallurgical processes developed by its engineers. Eramet’s final objective is to process 50,000 tons of battery modules per year, i.e. approximately 25,000 tons of “black mass”. This would supply about 10% of the European market for automotive electric batteries.
Eramet and Orano invest in automotive battery recycling
Electric car manufacturers are multiplying in France and around the world, leading to an increase in battery production. Eramet and Orano are positioning themselves on the used battery recycling market. Orano has announced the forthcoming opening of a pilot site for recycling automotive batteries in Bessines-sur-Gartempes, in the Limousin region. For its part, Eramet plans to open a battery recycling plant in 2027 in northern France, in partnership with Suez, which will be responsible for crushing and shredding battery cells and separating the plastic, copper and aluminum.
