February 24, 2025

Bowen Zhou

12th Grade

St. Francis Preparatory School

Batteries are notoriously hard to recycle. The difficulty comes from the cost and complexity of trying to recycle them, as well as the safety concerns that come with trying to recycle potentially toxic chemicals and materials. This problem has become a hot topic because of the rise of EVs (Electric Vehicles). People often criticize EVs because of how they’re supposed to be disposed of and the risk that comes with driving around a giant battery. Analysts say that 145 million EVs will be on the road by 2030. 

With so many EVs being produced, the next question is how to dispose of or recycle these new batteries that are being produced. Usually, batteries are shredded to break them into smaller pieces and separate the different materials like nickel and cadmium. Then they are heated or using acid, separating the different materials from the shredded batteries. Then they can purify and sell the materials to manufacturers to make new batteries. But the issue comes with the scale, with more and more EVs on the road, can our energy-intensive recycling system keep up?

The answer may be found in a new startup from Princeton called NuEnergy. It was co-founded together by Bruce Koel, Yiguang Ju, Xiaofang Yang, and Chao Yan in 2019. They use a new method of recycling batteries by applying plasma to the batteries' cathode. They use a low-temperature plasma, which is very reactive, because of how reactive it is, it can react to the contaminants from the cathode powder. They separate the anode and cathode materials and run the cathode powder through a plasma reactor to remove the contaminants. This is a big improvement from the old method which uses high temperatures or acid to remove contaminants. 

These methods are called indirect because they break down the battery to its bare elements rather than reforming the old batteries. This method actually loses some lithium in the cathode material so it is added back in the powder. This new method for recycling batteries can be used to relieve supply chain issues, like the mining of Cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Condo. Currently, they are trying to scale up their technology by partnering up and creating a pilot plant with Wistron Greentech Corporation, a waste processor for technology companies.

Only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries are currently being recycled in the US. If we want to be net zero by 2030, we need to scale up how fast we are recycling batteries to keep up with the demand for EVs. This new technology can help us quickly catch up in how fast we can recycle and produce EVs using recycled materials.