Currently, there are over 500,000 electric scooters in Taiwan, using over one million batteries. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Taiwan will need to eliminate approximately 1,100 metric tons of lithium batteries annually after 2025. This massive demand for recycling and reuse materials urgently requires a circular economy solution. Yesterday (the 18th), the Environmental Protection Agency announced the results of a collaborative research project with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which has purified the "black powder" from discarded secondary lithium batteries into higher-value, higher-purity cobalt sulfate and cobalt oxide, which can be used as chemical raw materials for lithium battery positive electrode materials.
Secondary lithium battery waste is expected to increase significantly, and the demand for raw materials is also high.
Lithium batteries that can be recharged and reused, known as secondary lithium batteries, are widely used in mobile phones, cameras, laptops, and tablets. In recent years, electric vehicles, bicycles, and large energy storage devices have also become highly dependent on lithium batteries. However, Taiwan relies on imports for the precious metals used in lithium batteries, such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese, and copper.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the recycling volume of secondary lithium batteries (including electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and products containing secondary lithium batteries) was approximately 600 metric tons in 2021. However, by 2025, this figure is projected to reach approximately 1,100 metric tons per year. The EPA notes that electric vehicles are driving a booming lithium battery market, leading to a continued increase in demand for raw materials. Based on sales estimates, there are a cumulative 8,000 electric vehicles and 500,000 electric motorcycles. This booming "million-unit electric vehicle market" is driven in particular by the surge in discarded lithium batteries.
Although the current annual processing capacity of Taiwan's six processing plants is approximately 2,200 metric tons, which is barely enough to handle the 1,100 metric tons of secondary lithium battery waste expected annually by 2025, in order to further maximize the value and retain key metal resources in the country, the Environmental Protection Agency initiated cooperation with the Industrial Technology Research Institute three years ago to jointly develop high-value recycling of lithium batteries. Key technologies have now been acquired and have reached the trial production stage.
Academia Sinica collaborates with the Institute to extract precious metals; value-added reuse still requires comprehensive recycling.
Recycling first requires extracting the metals. Taking the cobalt from spent secondary lithium batteries as an example, ITRI research has found that physical precision sorting of mixed positive and negative electrode powders can effectively remove impurities such as iron, copper, and aluminum. By adjusting the acid-base separation and purification process, using different reducing agents, and comparing the leaching ratio of cobalt ions, the mixed positive and negative electrode powders can be separated and purified in a low-energy, high-efficiency manner to extract the positive electrode precursor raw materials. The overall cobalt extraction rate can reach over 98%.
Next, using a high-temperature thermal reduction process, the recycled material is converted back into cobalt oxide, with a cobalt content exceeding 71.06% by weight and impurities less than 300 ppm, meeting industrial-grade raw material specifications. The cobalt oxide can then be used as a raw material for batteries and chemicals, returning to lithium battery manufacturing.
ITRI stated that this technology can separate and purify relatively low-cost mixed positive and negative electrode powders into high-value cobalt oxide, increasing the price per kilogram by more than tenfold. Other metals can also be extracted and reused through the process.
Wang Yuebin, Executive Secretary of the Environmental Protection Administration's Recycling Foundation Management Committee, pointed out that in the past, after crushing processing using domestic technology, most of the positive and negative electrode mixed powders containing valuable metals were exported abroad, and the remaining "black powder" could only be used as an auxiliary material for steelmaking, with a value of only NT$80 per kilogram. However, after precise sorting and purification processing using this technology, the cobalt oxide in it is currently priced at NT$800 per kilogram, which is 10 times the original price. In addition, with the fluctuation of international demand and the political and economic conditions of the production area, the price is expected to fluctuate faster and higher.
With this recycling technology, it requires the public's help in recycling used batteries to be effective. The Environmental Protection Agency explains that there are currently over 20,000 recycling sites for used dry-cell batteries throughout Taiwan. The public should pay attention to recycling items containing dry-cell batteries, such as toys, laser pointers, computers, remote controls, automatic massage patches, and various rechargeable home appliances and information products.
In addition, the power batteries used in electric vehicles have specific discharge locations and recycling channels. If the public discharges lithium batteries during electric vehicle maintenance or when the electric vehicle is discarded, the automobile and motorcycle repair shop or vehicle recycler will hand them over to the waste dry battery recycling or processing industry for recycling and treatment.
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/233255)
