Research database

The recycling of raw materials to manufacture new components, hence closing the circular economy loop, is especially critical in a fastgrowing and strategic sector such as energy storage. Batteries are an essential component of portable devices and electric vehicles, and their rapid growth requires both to secure the availability of the used raw materials and to develop effective and economical strategies for their recycling. Lithium-ion batteries are the current dominating technology, but they have several intrinsic limitations that hinder their sustainable production, such as a moderate specific energy capacity and durability, a strong reliance on several critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, and the complex and costly recycling of these CRMs related to their dispersion and intermixing with other metals.