CIRCULAR ECONOMY
AND MATERIALS

By breaking the market barriers, we are designing batteries entirely from recycled, environmentally-friendly and renewable materials and technologies, through circular design, to sustainable and profitable reuse and recycling strategies for a true circular economy.

OUR KEY AREAS
FOR CIRCULAR ECONOMY

We provide support at every stage of the battery circular economy.

OUR 5 TRAINING DIMENSIONS
TACKLE TRAINING NEEDS

Design for Circularity

Designing batteries for circularity is key to sustainability. It allows for easier disassembly, reuse, and recycling, cutting waste and recovering valuable materials like lithium and cobalt. This approach extends battery life, lowers costs, and reduces the environmental impact, making the entire battery lifecycle more efficient and eco-friendly.

Our products and services

+ Assessment and benchmarking of design that can be implemented to the products to ensure higher circularity (e.g.: economic recycling processes that yield the highest material recovery and lowest end-to-end CO2 footprint).
+ Optimization and development of circular design by selecting materials, components and technologies for batteries that enable reliably and safe assembly, disassembly, and reassembly solutions.
+ Analysis of technical and economic feasibility of circular design approach.

reuse

We are developing and piloting a modular and flexible energy storage system using second-life batteries. The storage architecture provides a grid interface for the integration of renewable energies as well as fast charging for a quicker and more cost-effective setup of charging infrastructure.

Our products and services

+ Business-Case Evaluation for stationary (second-life) storage systems
+ Determination of the residual value of aged traction batteries
+ Electrification of production sites and fleet logistics
+ Integration of renewable energies sources

BATTERY DISASSEMBLY

Automated battery disassembly is essential due to the complexity and variability of traction batteries. It ensures safer handling of hazardous materials, reduces human error, and increases efficiency. By streamlining the process, automation makes large-scale recycling feasible, which is critical for managing the growing number of electric vehicle batteries.

Our products and services

+ Teardown investigation of battery packs and modules, including documentation, data collection, component analysis, tool testing, and training.
+ Concept planning for disassembly line integration, focusing on process flow, safety measures, and automation improvements.
+ Safe handling of battery systems, covering hazard assessment, safety protocols, and transport preparation.

BATTERY RECYCLING

Automated battery disassembly is essential due to the complexity and variability of traction batteries. It ensures safer handling of hazardous materials, reduces human error, and increases efficiency. By streamlining the process, automation makes large-scale recycling feasible, which is critical for managing the growing number of electric vehicle batteries.

Our products and services

+ Technical, economic, and ecological benchmarking, root-cause analysis, and optimization of mechanical and hydrometallurgical processes in battery recycling.
+ Optimization of recycling supply chains (e.g. Spoke-Hub network).
+ Development of recycling strategies for battery production scrap (e.g. direct recycling).

BE OUR PARTNER
IN OUR consortium studies

Life Cycle Assessment for Battery Recycling​

With these focal points, the participants are to create a level of knowledge with which the residual benefit of spent electric vehicle (EV) batteries can be evaluated individually and flexibly. The consortium partners will examine diagnostic procedures that can provide information about the condition of a battery system. In this context, the first step is to determine which indicators are important for a complete condition assessment.

PRICE
MONITOR

Our Price Monitor tool provides up-to-date pricing for LFP and NMC622 batteries, two leading battery technologies in the industry.

LASTEST
REPORTS

On this page you will find our latest reports and detailed analysis on the most relevant topics in our industry. Our team is dedicated to researching, compiling and analyzing key data to provide you with valuable information to support your strategic decision making.

MEET
THE TEAM

NATALIA SOLDAN
Group lead “Circular Economy & Materials”
n.soldan@pem.rwth-aachen.de

LET'S MEET!

Book a meeting for more detailed information.

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