ICMM - International Council on Mining & Metals

CASE STUDY

Zero Waste Recycling of Metals

Umicore is one of the world's principal producers of battery materials and a leading recycler of precious metals. In 2004, Umicore's battery recycling technology received the European Environmental Press Association’s Gold Award.

The vast majority of mobile devices, such as laptops, cell phones and palm pilots, are powered by lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which are manufactured using nickel and cobalt as well as other metals and plastics. Recycling these products requires special processing and treatment to avoid generating hazardous waste materials or materials that may need to be put in landfills or disposed of. Prior to Umicore's involvement, an environmentally sound technology to recycle lithium-ion batteries did not exist, despite a clear need for it in a world increasingly using portable electronic equipment.

Umicore began a research and development programme for a new technology in 2002, and, by late 2003, the company completed a process called VAL'EAS® to meet this gap in recycling technology. VAL'EAS was designed to be flexible enough to handle different types of materials. This is important because an array of batteries collected for recycling is unlikely to ever contain a single type.

The technology uses the plastics contained in the batteries as fuel, burning it in a furnace to create extra heat. Metals are recovered as an alloy rich in cobalt, nickel, copper and iron. This alloy is refined and separated into pure metal and metal compounds. No hazardous waste is generated due to a special gas cleaning system using plasma technology, which was developed to avoid the formation of dioxin or furan and capture all potential vapours of metals. A by-product of the process is used in the construction industry.

As the plastic from the batteries is used as fuel, the technology requires less external energy input than traditionally required for smelting metals. Scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands argue that it is much more eco-efficient to burn these small pieces of plastic than to try to separate plastics from metals in the batteries by pre-processing.

The recovered metals and metals compounds are re-used, often in a 'closed' recycling loop. For example, cobalt is re-transformed into cobalt dioxide in one of Umicore's Belgian plants. This is then sent to another Umicore plant in Korea to be converted into lithium cobaltite, which is used to make new lithium-ion batteries - and the cycle starts again.

The VAL'EAS process will bring significant commercial benefits to Umicore as the demand for both recycling services and recycled material increases. Currently around 9,000 tonnes of cobalt are sold each year to make some 1.4 billion cells. As the world's leading supplier of cobalt compounds for rechargeable batteries, Umicore is well placed to supply recycled material, recovered using its award-winning process, for use in new rechargeable batteries.

The volume of batteries recycled is set to increase as equipment becomes obsolete and legislation, such as the European Commission's new recycling laws, increases the requirement for recycling. It is estimated that by 2010, Europe could be recycling nearly 2,500 tons of lithium-ion batteries per year.