As electric vehicle adoption grows in the United States, manufacturers and the federal government are actively seeking the materials necessary to build EV batteries. This has led to an increased focus on battery recycling, with attention turning to recovering valuable metals such as nickel and cobalt from spent lithium-ion batteries. However, with the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China, there is now a closer examination of graphite, a mineral that is often overlooked in current recycling processes but is essential for commercial EV battery anodes.
Chinese export controls on graphite, which went into effect on December 1, have raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers. These new policies, announced in October in response to increased restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors to China by the Biden administration, have highlighted the dependence of battery makers outside of China on securing materials for anodes.
Currently, China is the dominant force in every step of the battery anode supply chain, from mining and producing synthetic graphite to manufacturing anodes. In an effort to reduce this dependence, the U.S. auto industry is showing increased interest in domestically sourced graphite, particularly with the implementation of a new federal tax credit that rewards automakers using minerals produced in America.
While setting up new graphite mines and production facilities could take many years, there is a potentially faster option: harvesting graphite from used batteries. Some U.S. battery recyclers are now looking into recycling battery-grade graphite, an area that has been largely unexplored due to technical and economic barriers. The U.S. Department of Energy is supporting these efforts by investing tens of millions of dollars into graphite recycling initiatives aimed at addressing basic research questions and launching demonstration plants.
In addition to enhancing domestic supplies, recycling graphite would prevent valuable battery resources from being wasted and could reduce the carbon emissions associated with battery production. However, the process of recycling graphite is challenging due to its unique properties and the lack of established methods for large-scale recycling.
Graphite is used as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries and must be obtained and refined using methods that separate it from other materials, remove contaminants, and restore its original structure. Current recycling methods such as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, which involve smelting in a furnace or dissolving in chemical solutions, can cause damage to graphite’s crystalline structure and are not always effective.
Newer approaches such as direct recycling, which aim to keep the structure of the materials intact, are being explored but face scalability challenges. Companies such as American Battery Technology Company, Ascend Elements, and Princeton NuEnergy are developing various processes for recycling graphite, with the goal of producing high-performance, battery-grade recycled graphite for use in EV batteries.
These efforts are crucial for reducing dependence on China for battery materials and creating a more sustainable and environmentally friendly battery supply chain in the U.S.
