DOE launches two initiatives to promote battery recycling

The U.S. Department of Energy is launching a Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize and establishing a Battery Recycling R&D Center.

These programs are designed to reclaim critical materials – including cobalt and lithium – from batteries used in consumer electronics, defense, energy storage, and transportation applications. The recycling prize will encourage entrepreneurs to find solutions to collecting, storing, and transporting discarded lithium-ion batteries for eventual recycling. Cash prizes totaling $5.5 million, in three phases, will be awarded.

There will also be a $15 million investment to establish a Lithium Battery R&D Recycling Center. The center is focused on cost-effective recycling processes to recover lithium battery materials. Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will lead the center.

“America’s dependence on foreign sources of critical materials undermines our energy security and national security,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said. “DOE will leverage the power of competition and the resources of the private sector, universities, and the National Laboratories to develop innovative recycling technologies, which will bolster economic growth, strengthen our energy security, and improve the environment.”

Lithium and cobalt are both expensive and depend on foreign sources for production. The goals of both the Recycling Prize and R&D Center is to develop technologies to capture 90 percent of all lithium-based battery technologies in the United States. At present, lithium-ion batteries are recycled at a rate of less than 5 percent.