News
Despite a different objective, the RHINOCEROS project partners have shown growing interest in the Digital Battery Passport, an initiative of FREE4LIB, a sister project from the Cluster Hub “Production of raw materials for batteries from European resources”. This collaboration shows our commitment to contributing to the European battery community through the exchange of knowledge and experience.
The FREE4LIB workshop had a three-fold objective, including a brief presentation of the preliminary results of the battery passport concept development, the outline of the implementation challenges and potential follow-ups of industrial scale-up, and the clear differentiation between battery second use (B2U) versus recycling. The event drew approximately 50 participants from various segments of the battery value chain, which ensured a comprehensive and multifaceted perspective of the subject matter.
The introductive session presented the FREE4LIB project, briefly highlighting past achievements and focusing mainly on the remaining activities outlined in the workplan. The following session was led by Julius Ott (industrial engineer with expertise in circular economy at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz). During the past year, researchers at Univ. of Graz worked on finalising data collection and processing related to the development of a data model of the digital passport platform which aims to close the information gap between beginning-of-life (BoL) and end-of-life (EoL) battery lifetime. This interactive session turned out to be an appropriate opportunity for researchers at Univ. of Graz to present the outcomes of their data collection and handling, and to evaluate their relevance within the reality portrayed by the workshop attendees.
Participants, predominantly familiarised with the EU-funded battery projects, confirmed the findings reported by Univ. of Graz. However, they also raised concerns about data sharing. The outcomes of the interactive session, complementing prior research, will serve as valuable guidance for the FREE4LIB project in implementing the battery passport within their project.
For additional background information on the digital passport developed by FREE4LIB, please refer to previous articles.
On Thursday, 16 November, during the 2023 edition of the Raw Materials Week, the twelve EU funded projects that constitute the Cluster Hub ‘Materials for batteries’ gathered for their annual event in Brussels.
The Cluster Hub has been initiated last year during the 7th edition of the Raw Materials Week. The main objective of the meeting was to meet and discuss the latest developments in the participating projects as well as the new challenges and opportunities discovered through the projects’ lifetime. Nader Akil, Operations Manager at PNO Innovation, inaugurated this second edition outlining the motivation behind the hub’s establishment. He underlined the positive reception and sustained interest from various stakeholders keen on joining this initiative.
Discover and/or rediscover the first edition of the Cluster Hub workshop
Co-organised by RELiEF, EXCEED, ENICON and RAWMINA, the event was also the opportunity to welcome the four new members of the Cluster (EXCEED, RAWMINA, METALLICO and CRM-geothermal). the workshop gathered nearly 100 organisations driving the production and the recycling of raw materials for battery applications from primary and secondary resources.
Building on the initial objective of creating an environment that could foster knowledge exchange on different approaches for the recycling and recovery for battery applications, the event focused on three major topics that depict the transversality characterising the projects: the raw materials through research and science, the roles and challenges of industry and market for raw materials, and the raw materials under the scope of sustainability, durability and social acceptance. During this annual meeting, an interactive session led by Anish Patil from TechConcepts and representing the RELiEF project had the objective of Mapping the European battery material recycling landscape – more details to be found below, in the section referring to the interactive session.
Research and science unlocking new opportunities in raw materials
The first session was moderated by Sonia Matencio from LEITAT, representing the RAWMINA project. This session had the objective of discussing the raw materials through research and science, under the scopes of mining, refining, processing as well as the battery data. Sonia introduced this topic under the scope of RAWMINA, explaining the integrated innovative pilot system for Critical Raw Materials recovery from mine waste in a circular economy context. To this end, Christophe Aucher, from LEITAT as well, highlighted the need on an open battery passport system to better reflect and account for any adaptations that might be required due to the changing regulatory landscape.
Sonia welcomed afterward Brecht Dewulf from KU LEUVEN and representing ENICON, who discussed the sustainable processing of Europe’s low grade sulphidic and lateritic Ni/Co ores and tailings into battery grade metals. The idea behind this was to show all the potential of Ni/Co resources for Europe.
Xochitl Dominguez from VITO concentrated her speech on gas-diffusion electrocrytallisation (GDEx), a crucial topic for the projects LiCORNE and RHINOCEROS she works with. GDEx is an electrochemical process of reactive precipitation of metals in solution with oxidising or reducing agents produced in-situ by the electrochemical reduction of a gas, in a gas-diffusion electrode. This was followed by Katrin Kieling from GFZ Potsdam, working there for the CRM-geothermal project and shortly explained the challenges of extracting critical raw materials from geothermal fluids. To conclude this first session, Sandra Pavón from Fraunhofer IKTS explained the demonstration of battery metals recovery from primary and secondary resources through a sustainable processing methodology in the METALLICO project.
Discover presentations from Session 1
Insights from stakeholder perspectives: Interactive session on key EU Policies and priorities
The annual meeting followed its course with an interactive session led by Anish Patil, which scrutinised stakeholders’ perspectives on the Green Deal Industrial Plan, Net Zero Industrial Act, Critical Raw Materials Act and the European Battery Regulation 2023. Mentimeter facilitated this interactive session, engaging the audience to explore how these policies intersect, complement each other, and identify critical measures and incentives for achieving their objectives.
Over 30 persons participated in the live-poll proposed, which results display the priority to be set on funding and state aid regarding ranking the four pillars of the Green Deal Industrial Plan in order of relevance (followed by skills development, conductive regulation, and open and fair trade). Another major topic regarding the stimulation of investment in net Zero technologies, the majority of answers placed the ‘enhanced skills’ as first priority, shortly followed by facilitating the access to the market.
Lastly, the participants were divided regarding the critical measures to implement in the EU to stimulate investment in building domestic capacities for extraction of critical raw materials (CRMs). Although the majority opted for ‘cutting red-tape and accelerated permitting’, approximately half of the answers evoked uncertainty, which emphasised one more time the need to engage with policy makers as external stakeholders in all projects.
Navigating the nexus: industry challenges, market dynamics, social acceptance and sustainability
This interactive workshop was followed by two sessions, which aimed at discussing the challenges and opportunities of raw materials within the frame of industry and market, as well as the social acceptance, sustainability, and durability.
Alan Gonzalez from PNO Innovation Begium, representing LiCORNE, moderated the industry part, whereas Sam Hoefman from RELiEF moderated the last session on social acceptance, sustainability, and durability. Distinguished panellists took the stage to engage in debates on various topics.
Edvarts Emerson, Production and Testing Engineer at Watt4Ever, presented his work on the benchmark depository of 2nd life use of lithium in batteries, acceptance criteria and guidelines, work developed within the RHINOCEROS project. Benjamin Wilson, representing the RESPECT Project, displayed Aalto University’s work advancing efficient, sustainable, innovative and safe battery recycling processes in the EU. Laura Kainiemi from LUT University, representing the RELiEF Project, Konstantinos Komnitsas from the Technical University of Crete (TUC), on behalf of EXCEED, and Vitor Correia from INTRAW for the CRM-geothermal project, collectively debated the role and impact of social acceptance among affected communities, the importance of triggering new dialogues on responsible mining activities, and the joint involvement of regional, national and European authorities, academia, industry partners, and citizens in shaping these initiatives.
A big thank you to all participants for this co-creative and very constructive and inspiring meeting.
Discover presentations from Session 2
Discover presentations from Session 3
Part of the Cluster Hub “Production of raw materials for batteries from European resources”, the RHINOCEROS consortium received the online visit of FREE4LIB representatives during the second day of the Consortium meeting held in Gothenburg. This initiative including stakeholders involved in different European R&D initiatives goes beyond building a knowledge exchange ecosystem to address common topics related to EU-funded projects; it paves new collaboration routes and synergies aiming at driving innovations for the recycling of batteries and the production of raw materials for battery applications from primary and secondary resources available in Europe.
Represented by Julius Ott (industrial engineer with expertise in circular economy at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz) and Pau Sanchis (senior policy officer Eurobat), the FREE4LIB presentation focused mainly on the Digital Battery passport and the relevant legislative situation at European level.
Pau Sanchis referred to the Digital Battery Passport in the context of the new regulation on batteries and waste batteries which entered into force on 17 August 2023. According to this update, thoroughly explained in Art. 77, the battery passport should contain information “relating to the battery model and information specific to individual battery, including resulting from the use of that battery”.
“Batteries should be labelled in order to provide end-users with transparent, reliable and clear information about batteries and waste batteries. That information would enable end-users to make informed decisions when buying and discarding batteries and waste operators to appropriately treat waste batteries. Batteries should be labelled with all the necessary information concerning their main characteristics, including their capacity and the amount of certain hazardous substances present. To ensure the availability of information over time, that information should also be made available by means of QR codes which are printed or engraved on batteries or are affixed to the packaging and to the documents accompanying the battery and should respect the guidelines of ISO/IEC Standard 18004:2015. The QR code should give access to a battery’s product passport. Labels and QR codes should be accessible to persons with disabilities, in accordance with Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council (17).”
The policy officer emphasised the role of the standardisation process on the Battery Passport, which requires the Commission to adopt implementing decision requesting European Standardisation Organisation to develop standards in support of Ecodesign by December 2023. Standards regarding the technical design and operation of the Battery Passport are expected to complement provisions under Art. 78. According to the timeline presented in the regulation, the first application of the battery passport is expected in 2027. From 18 February 2027 onwards, “all batteries shall be marked with a QR code as described in Part C of Annex VI.
The new regulation aiming at strengthening sustainability rules for batteries and waste batteries will be supported by various secondary legislation pieces which will ensure all the requirements will be developed and implemented effectively. The QR code shall provide access to the following:
- for light means of transport (LMT) batteries, industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2kWh and electric vehicles batteries, the battery passport in accordance with Article 77.
- for other batteries, the applicable information referred to in paragraphs 1 to 5 of this Article, the declaration of conformity referred to in Article 18, the report referred to in Article 52(3) and the information regarding the prevention and management of waste batteries laid down in Article 74(1), points (a) to (f).
- for starting, light, and ignition (SLI) batteries, the amount of cobalt, lead, lithium or nickel recovered from waste and present in active materials in the battery, calculated in accordance with Article 8.
The policy overview presentation was complemented by the technical presentation undertaken by Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, that will develop a data model of the digital battery passport platform aiming to close the information gap between beginning-of-life (BoL) and end-of-life (EoL) battery lifetime. Relying on knowledge generated previously by Univ. of Graz, the researchers set an objective to define clear user roles and establish access to certain information. Up to this moment, the work carried out has been focusing on data collection and data handling (data points sorting) on the other side. This specific work encountered various challenges, notably the users willingness to share information, process standardisation, the variety of products, the recycling cost/revenue ratio, the dynamic development of the legislative framework, to name a few.
Learn more about the progress on the battery passport on the FREE4LIB website.
