Iondrive chases 25 per cent revenue boost via project to upgrade graphite from end-of-life batteries

Battery recycling company Iondrive has announced a new project with the CSIRO to convert waste graphite from spent lithium-ion batteries into anode-grade material, extending the usefulness and revenue-generating potential of the company’s proprietary Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) platform.

According to a statement from the company on Tuesday, the project kicked off on July 1 and is expected to be completed by November. If successful, it will result in intellectual property to be “licensed exclusively to Iondrive for global commercialisation on a royalty-free basis.”

Iondrive’s three-stage DES process is currently able to recover nickel, manganese, cobalt, and lithium from raw mass (made of shredded, end-of-life batteries) as well as graphite.

Graphite makes up approximately half the weight of black mass (and gives it its colour), though often gets overlooked in battery recycling due to its lower per-tonne value versus other metals, Iondrive stated.

Being able to upgrade it into a battery-grade product would “support a potential 25 [per cent] uplift in revenue from recycling operations in a commercial scale plant” according to the company’s modelling.

CEO Dr Ebbe Dommisse in a statement on Tuesday that graphite “has traditionally been under-utilised  in recycling… This project aims to change that by producing anode-grade material, which adds both  economic and environmental value to our platform. It’s another important step towards commercial  readiness.” 

Iondrive’s DES technology was spun out of the University of Adelaide, and has been proven at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4. It is currently building a pilot plant to take it to TRL 6. It initial focus is on processing EV batteries in the European market.

The new graphite project has received Graphite Research and Development Grant support (delivered by CSIRO) as well as funding from CSIRO’s Kick-Start program, with support totalling $84,000.

Picture: A lithium ion laptop battery (credit Kristoferb, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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