IT Ministry Transfers Crucial Li-Ion Battery Recycling Tech

This indigenous technology can process various types of discarded Li-ion batteries, recovering more than 95 per cent of the lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) contents in the form of their respective oxides or carbonates with a purity of around 98 per cent

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Friday transferred cost-effective lithium-ion battery recycling technology to nine recycling companies and nine more received letters of intent at Niti Aayog.

MeitY developed this technology in partnership with the Government of Telangana and industry partner, Greenko Energies Pvt. Ltd., as part of the “Centre of Excellence on E-waste Management" established at the Centre for Material for Electronics technique (C-MET), Hyderabad. Eco Recycling Ltd is a proud recipient of Letter of Intent. The event was attended by Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary at Meity, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Additional Secretary at Meity, BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of Niti Aayog, and others.

This indigenous technology can process various types of discarded Li-ion batteries, recovering more than 95 per cent of the lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni) contents in the form of their respective oxides or carbonates with a purity of around 98 per cent. The recycling process includes leaching, followed by hierarchical selective extraction of metal values using solvent extraction. These secondary raw materials might be employed in battery manufacture or other future uses.

Dr R Ratheesh, Director at C-MET Hyderabad, during the presentation of the technology, mentioned Niti Aayog’s report according to which by 2030, the country’s overall lithium battery storage requirement will be around 600 GWh and about 125 GWh of lithium batteries will be ready for recycling.

Citing the report, Dr. Ratheesh said the black mass (used to describe e-waste that consists cobalt, nickel, copper and lithium) amount will be 3,60,000 tons. Furthermore, he said: “Currently all the black masses are going to China and Korea for recycling, so I think we have started the recycling initiative at the right time and I request the authorities to put a ban on the export of these materials so that we can support Indian industries to come out with more recycling initiatives.”

Niti Aayog CEO, while applauding MeitY and C-MET, also echoed similar thoughts and indicated that the time has come to reduce the dependency on other countries as the recycling technology provides the option to use raw materials already available inside the borders, instead of importing from other countries.