The US Department of Energy announced a national lithium recycling initiative on 16 February 2019 in a long-overdue move. The Argonne, Oak Ridge National Laboratory will collaborate with several universities to keep pace with China. The DOE called the backlog a ‘national security issue’ because a reliable, affordable supply of battery metals was not secure.
How National Lithium Recycling is Critical to US Security
Civilians and government are increasingly reliant on lithium-based batteries as they go about their daily tasks. Despite this, the US depends on other countries for metals such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, and nickel.
Demand for these battery materials is also expected to grow exponentially to meet new energy storage demands. This ‘undermines our national security’ says a senior official ‘because the source countries are not always close allies’. The situation has become critical because China has been acquiring major interests in cobalt mines in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Roll Out Plan for this Exciting Development
A kitty of $15 billion will fund the national lithium recycling program for the next 3 years. The primary focus will be on developing ways to process recovered materials. The end goal is to reuse these without having to reduce them to their core components.
“We’ve done a lot of analysis, says Jeff Spangenberger, director of the new ‘ReCell’ recycling center. “If we don’t recycle, we will run out of materials. If we had a steady supply from recycled materials, we would reduce the risk.” However for the project to work strategically, the US also needs to roll out new manufacturing plants.
“There is no sense to recycle in the US and not be able to use the material in the US,” Jeff Spangenberger adds. “Otherwise you have to sell to China because that’s where they make the batteries. “By end of this, we should be able to show industry it’s doable, then let’s scale up and get commercialized.”
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