Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
SK Innovation's battery recycling tech gets nod in US
SK Innovation's battery plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province / Courtesy of SK Innovation
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
SK Innovation's electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling technology has been recognized by U.S.-based research center Argonne National Laboratory for its superiority in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the company said, Monday.
The Argonne National Laboratory, a research center under the U.S. Department of Energy, verified SK Innovation's technology was eco-friendly through its life cycle assessment test. SK Innovation developed the technology for the first time in the industry.
The technology is used to extract raw materials needed for making EV batteries and the U.S. research center added it could greatly contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to SK Innovation.
With more EVs being sold, calls have grown for better recycling of used EV batteries. Battery recycling firms employ a wet process to extract key substances such as nickel, cobalt and manganese from used batteries before extracting lithium, but this results in low rates of recovery and purity. But SK's technology is extracting lithium first in the form of lithium hydroxide and then extracting nickel, cobalt and manganese as a secondary step.
When lithium hydroxide is manufactured through SK Innovation's battery metal recycling technology, the Argonne National Laboratory said it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 74 percent compared to sourcing lithium from mining sites and 41 percent compared to sourcing lithium from lithium salt lake brine, SK added.
When the technology is applied to anode manufacturing, a core material for lithium-ion batteries, the institution said battery producers could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 47 percent compared to mining sites and 39 percent compared to lithium salt lakes.
“As the world-renowned U.S. national research institute recognized the eco-friendly nature of our technology, we expect we will have growing business opportunities with global EV makers regarding the recycling of used EV batteries,” SK Innovation said.
With the support from the Department of Energy, the Argonne National Laboratory developed a life cycle analysis tool called GREET ― which stands for “greenhouse gases, regulated emissions and energy use in technologies” ― to evaluate energy use and emissions, as well as water consumption on a life cycle basis.
With this evaluation model, the research center has conducted environmental impact assessments of carmakers such as GM, Ford and Chrysler and energy companies including Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP. The evaluation model is recognized for its reliability as it is used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and State of California.
“SK Innovation has secured a stable and eco-friendly recycling technology that is distinguished from that of its rival companies,” said Lee Sung-joon, head of the company's Institute of Environmental Science & Tec. “With the technology, we will secure source materials for batteries in a more eco-friendly way and will be able to flexibly respond to global environmental regulations.”