November 17, 2024: Patent filings for battery recycling have increased 45% year-on-year, with a greater focus on extracting lithium, according to latest analysis.
The number of patent filings in 2022 for battery recycling focused on lithium was almost 200% higher than for nickel, cobalt or copper, intellectual property law firm Appleyard Lees revealed in the fourth annual edition of its Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report.
This innovation focus reflects the relative complexity involved in recycling lithium ion batteries and comparative scarcity of the element, which affects energy security, said the report — which looks at the latest complete filing data available from public sources (through to December 31, 2022).
According to the report, patent filings for battery recycling in 2022 (219) increased by 45% on 2021 (151) and more than 250% on 2019 (58) — with innovation focused on so-called black mass.
The marked rise in patent activity is through new market entrants such as BASF, Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology and Volkswagen, adding to the existing companies active in this area including Toyota and Duesenfeld.
And while previous research showed that battery innovation was driven by electrical engineering, the report said latest evidence shows comparable advances in both chemical and electrical engineering fields.
Newly-protected innovation for lithium extraction using pyrometallurgy includes a process involving a partial-oxygen environment to react lithium with carbon in the black mass to produce extractable lithium carbonate.
Meanwhile, a BASF patent application using hydrometallurgy offers a potentially more economical and commercially-desirable method to extract lithium via lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide extraction, the report said.
Appleyard Lees trainee patent attorney Kealan Fallon said: “There is an urgent need for new technologies and methodologies to efficiently extract valuable materials from lithium ion battery waste, especially with the rapidly increasing EV market, in which about 1,400 EVs per day are estimated to be available for recycling by 2040.”
Fallon said this is reflected in projections of market size for battery recycling globally, estimated to more than double between 2023 to 2030 to $54 billion.
David Walsh, partner at Appleyard Lees, added: “We believe that the next decade will see asurge in innovation aimed at addressing the challenges of battery recycling, from improving the recovery of valuable metals and other key materials to developing eco-friendly and cost-effective recycling processes.”
