Technological Innovation Significantly Reduces Lithium Battery Recycling Costs

At the Lithium Battery Recycling Forum of the CLNB 2025 (10th) New Energy Industry Chain Expo hosted by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. (SMM), Bao Wei, Assistant General Manager of Qiantong Environmental Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. and EMBA Instructor at Jiangnan University, shared the application and case studies of DRCC® low-energy deep concentration technology in lithium recovery. He stated that the current pain points of lithium battery recycling technology include large land occupation, significant wastewater generation, poor economic efficiency, and high energy consumption. The DRCC® low-energy deep concentration technology can significantly reduce costs for enterprises!

The Significance of Lithium Battery Recycling

Analysis of the Current Situation and Future Trends in Lithium Battery Recycling

Core Driving Events in the Lithium Battery Recycling Industry

In 2023, the first batch of EV batteries reached end-of-life (sold in 2015), driving a core driving event for power battery recycling;

In 2024, the EU's New Battery Regulation came into effect, continuing to drive the development of global battery recycling;

In 2025, 95% of China's policies in the battery recycling industry will be implemented;

In 2026, the volume of power batteries reaching end-of-life will surge;

In 2028, LFP batteries will reach end-of-life on a large scale;

In 2029, global carbon tariffs will be implemented;

In 2030, breakthroughs in solid-state battery recycling technology will occur;

Pain Points of Existing Lithium Battery Recycling Technologies

Large land occupation: Processing 10,000 mt/year of lithium batteries requires approximately 10,000-20,000 m² of land, with hydrometallurgy processes occupying more land than pyrometallurgy and physical methods;

Significant wastewater generation: Hydrometallurgy is a major source of wastewater, with each ton of ternary battery (NCM) processed potentially generating 30-50 tons of wastewater;

Poor economic efficiency: Traditional hydrometallurgy recycling of 1 ton of LFP only yields a profit of 200-500 yuan (compared to over 1,000 yuan for ternary batteries);

High energy consumption: Current mainstream hydrometallurgy/pyrometallurgy processes consume 3,000-6,000 kWh to recycle 1 ton of lithium batteries, equivalent to 30%-50% of the energy consumption for producing 1 ton of lithium batteries.

What is DRCC® Technology? What Can It Do?

Breaking it down, D stands for DEEP (depth), R stands for RECOVERY, and CC stands for CONCENTRATION.

Application of DRCC® Technology

For a system with a feed rate of 50 m³/hour (approximately 1,000 m³/day), the application of DRCC® technology can save 25,500 yuan per day. After 330 days of annual operation, it can save 8,415,000 yuan per year.

Reliability of DRCC® Technology

The company has multiple DRCC® experimental machines in reserve; the number of experimental projects exceeds 20; and a large amount of test data has been accumulated.

The feasibility and reliability of the process are verified through experiments; continuous operation for more than 1 month is conducted before formal projects; allowing customers to see real results and operating parameters.

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