According to Japanese sources, Sumitomo Metal has developed an efficient process to extract cobalt from depleted batteries for electric cars and beyond. The technology will make it possible in the future to avoid or mitigate the shortage of this extremely rare metal on Earth, without which the manufacture of rechargeable batteries is unthinkable today.
Cobalt is used to make cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, ensuring the stability of these cells. Sumitomo Metal, for example, obtains cobalt-bearing ore from Southeast Asia. The company processes the ore to extract cobalt in Japan, and then supplies the pure metal to battery manufacturers such as Panasonic and other companies that supply batteries in the US for Tesla cars.
About 60% of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mines in the Congo are owned by American and Swiss companies, but in recent years they have been actively bought by the Chinese. So, in 2016, the Chinese Molybdenum bought a significant part of the shares in Tenke Fungurume from the American company Freeport-McMoRan, which owns cobalt mines in the Congo, and in 2017 the GEM company from Shanghai bought the mines from the Swiss Glencore. The limitation of cobalt mining sites, analysts believe, will lead to a shortage of this metal as early as 2022, so the extraction of cobalt from recycled materials may push this unfortunate moment forward into the future.
Sumitomo Metal has begun setting up a pilot plant in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku to explore the possibilities of a new process for recovering cobalt from used batteries. The proposed process allows for the rapid extraction of cobalt in a pure enough form to be immediately returned to battery manufacturers. By the way, in addition to cobalt, copper and nickel will also be extracted during the processing of batteries, which will only add advantages to the new method. If the pilot production proves to be successful, Sumitomo Metal will start industrial processing of batteries to extract cobalt in 2021.
Source: 3dnews.ru