Information | 35 processes The road to the "rebirth" of new energy vehicles to eliminate batteries

According to national regulations, the power battery capacity decays to about 70% of the rated capacity, and it will face decommissioning and compulsory recycling, and the earliest batch of new energy vehicles equipped with power batteries are already in the retirement period. Where did all these power batteries go? How do I recycle it? Jimu reporter visited The Wuhan power battery recycling company Grimme to understand the "past and present life" of power batteries.

There is a risk of contamination if the power battery is not recycled

The battery capacity is attenuated to about 70% and will be decommissioned

Dr. Zhang Yuping, general manager of the company, said that in general, the average life of automobile power batteries is 5 to 7 years, and when the battery capacity decays to about 70%, it generally needs to be decommissioned. Under the background of the rapid growth of new energy vehicle production and sales, along with the installed capacity of power batteries, the amount of power battery scrap is also high.

None of the decommissioned power batteries are waste

In Zhang Yuping's view, no decommissioned power battery is waste, through disassembly and assembly, a decommissioned battery can be revitalized. What they have to do is to "eat dry and squeeze the waste power battery": the metal shell of the battery pack is sold as scrap aluminum and scrap iron; plastic and separator are used for harmless pyrolysis; the circuit board is used for harmless cracking or extraction of precious metals; the electrolyte is used for harmless pyrolysis; the negative electrode plate is used for the production of electrolytic copper; and the cathode material is used for recycling battery materials.

What will happen if the waste power battery is not reasonably recycled

"Waste power battery materials pose a potential pollution risk to the environment." For example, Zhang Yuping said that nickel, cobalt, etc. in cathode materials will lead to heavy metal pollution; electrolytes are easy to hydrolyze and produce strong corrosiveness; graphite in negative electrode materials cause dust pollution; diaphragm incineration will produce persistent organic matter pollution such as dioxins.

How to recycle waste power batteries

Zhang Yuping introduced that decommissioned power batteries generally have two ways of recycling, one is cascade utilization, and the other is recycling. The so-called cascade utilization is to use batteries with relatively high battery capacity in two- and three-wheel low-speed vehicles, UPS energy storage and other fields step by step; recycling is to disassemble decommissioned batteries through technical means, extract lithium, cobalt, nickel and other metals, and make resource utilization.

How to distinguish whether a battery is used in cascades or recycled

Zhang Yuping said that about 70% of the battery capacity can be used for power storage and low-speed electric vehicles, "such as the energy storage station at the entrance of the company that powers the factory area"; the battery capacity is less than 70% and more than 60%, which can be used for smart street lamps; the battery capacity is less than 4%, which can be disassembled and broken, and lithium, cobalt, nickel and other metals are extracted for battery raw materials.

"In general, 70% of recycled batteries can be used for cascade utilization and 30% for recycling." Zhang Yuping said that the cascade utilization carbon emission reduction rate can reach more than 90%, and the recycling carbon emission reduction rate can reach more than 70%.

The battery is decommissioned to rebirth after 35 processes

Reasonable disposal of power batteries

What is the right disposition? After a power battery is decommissioned, Grammy will carry out recycling and handover, transport to the warehouse, and carry out warehouse security storage management. After entering the warehouse, the battery is scanned and entered, registered in the storage ledger and disposed of the ledger, and safely monitored and stored after discharge. After that, the battery is finely disassembled and the data is entered into the background software. Finally, the power battery processing flow information traceability and cloud monitoring.

Eliminate the "rebirth" road of power batteries

In the power battery dismantling workshop of the factory area, there are many groups of eliminated car power batteries, and the workers use pneumatic tools to disassemble the battery packs one by one. In the assembly workshop of the factory, workers put parts into new battery packaging and enter data in front of the MES system computer next to the machine.

According to Zhang Yuping, this is the workers measuring the voltage and internal resistance, they have to ensure that the voltage internal resistance of each part has the same service life before they can be reassembled into a new battery. There are 120 workers in the dismantling workshop and assembly workshop, with a total of 35 processes, and a power battery can be "decommissioned" to "reborn".

The state vigorously supports the recycling of old power batteries

Industry insiders pointed out that regarding the future of the power battery industry, some foreign experience can be used as a reference. For example, Germany can already achieve the full recycling of waste batteries, and then process and classify; the relevant legislation in the United States is the most and most meticulous; Japan is in a leading position in Asia in the recycling of waste batteries, lead-acid batteries for automobiles have been fully recycled, and the recovery rate of other secondary batteries has exceeded 80%.

Eight ministries and commissions recently jointly issued the "Notice on Accelerating the Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Resources", which mentions the implementation of the industry norms for the comprehensive utilization of renewable resources such as waste power batteries and waste mobile phones, and makes separate guidance and explanations for improving the recycling system of waste power batteries.

The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Information Technology said that this year will focus on improving the power battery recycling system, supporting technical research such as dismantling and recycling in colleges and universities, and continuously improving the recycling rate and resource utilization efficiency.

Source: Jimu News