About
The Training Centre for Battery Recycling is designed to provide industry-centric solutions for the problems associated with battery recycling: including waste battery collection, transportation, storage, refining materials, and reuse.
Led by our Director, Prof. Shizhang Qiao, the Centre’s multi-disciplinary team of researchers and industry partners will focus on five key Themes that span the battery recycling chain, responding to existing challenges.
Outcomes are expected to shape a distinctive battery recycling model that shifts Australia to zero battery waste to landfill; establish a profitable and self-sustaining onshore industry chain; and help ensure the future of Australia’s energy security.
Provide industry-centric solutions for the problems associated with battery recycling: encompassing waste battery collection, transportation, storage, refining materials, and reuse.
Plan new industrial demonstrations and promotion policies to support and guide the rapid development of a battery recycling market in Australia.
Deliver a highly-skilled workforce trained by experts in this area for the Australian battery recycling market.
Promote Australian zero battery waste to landfill and an onshore battery recycling industry that is self-sustaining, profitable and growing.
Five key research themes
01
Pre-treatment and second-life management
02
Recycling spent batteries to materials
03
Resynthesizing materials for new batteries
04
Design of new battery materials and cells for ready recycling
05
Industrial standards to empower the next generations of sustainable LIB battery practice and technology
Our contribution
The ARC Training Centre aims to transform Australia’s battery and resource industry by building advanced manufacturing capability for recycling mixed battery materials, promoting 2nd-life re-use, redesigning high performance batteries towards a battery circular economy, and advancing the supporting regulatory landscape. As such, the ground-breaking work of the Centre will aim to contribute towards the understanding and development of:
A digital platform for spent batteries to allow rapid screening and efficient sorting. This will be a significant advancement to overcome the drawbacks of current battery recycling, which do not allow for fast screening and sorting in industrial battery recycling centers.
Integration of advanced non-destructive measurements (such as XRD metrology) with sensor technologies, to allow fast assessment of spent batteries for accurate and safe second-life management and recycling.
An automated and adjustable disassembly system based on artificial intelligence (AI) to enable quick and efficient disassembly processes.
New green leaching solvents such as deep eutectic solvents (DESs) that can simultaneously achieve high leaching efficiency, low cost, and environmental friendless.
Scalable froth flotation methods to efficiently separate active materials to accelerate the commercialization of direct recycling.
Novel methods to fabricate recycled materials to new cathodes with equivalent electrochemical performance to virgin ones.
New battery components materials such as organic materials, aqueous binders, and solid-state electrolyte for ready recycling.
A new battery cooling system based on phase change inhibited (PCI) materials which will not only greatly reduce the possibility of fire through realizing a uniformly distributed temperature over different battery cells but also improve the efficiency and life time of battery systems.
Protocols for new battery testing for consistent measurement/reporting of battery performance from recycled materials.
Life cycle analysis to allow industry to efficiently evaluate and optimise recycling.
Standardised battery recycling will promote the development of battery recycling in Australia.