A startup company has pioneered a new method for direct battery recycling that uses plasma to treat a battery’s cathode, the positively charged part that contains valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. This breakthrough technique removes contaminants from the cathode material, requiring minimal additional processing before it is ready for reuse.
Unlike traditional recycling methods, which involve shredding used batteries and using acids or high temperatures to separate materials into individual atoms, the new plasma-based method is more efficient and less energy-intensive. Traditional processes also require the challenging task of reassembling the cathode material, a step that the new approach simplifies.
Princeton NuEnergy, the company behind this innovation, was co-founded in 2019 by Koel, Yiguang Ju (a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering), and postdoctoral researchers Xiaofang Yang and Chao Yan. Yan is now the company’s CEO, and Yang serves as CTO.
The company has received funding from Princeton’s Intellectual Property Accelerator Fund, the Department of Energy, and private investors. A pilot plant in Texas currently operates at a scale of 500 tons per year, while a demonstration plant under construction in South Carolina is expected to process up to 10,000 tons per year of recycled cathode material.
This new technology could significantly reduce the environmental impact of battery recycling, making it easier and more cost-effective to reclaim valuable materials used in the production of electric vehicle batteries and other energy storage systems.
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