{
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    "id": "term:direct-recycling",
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    "label": "Direct recycling",
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      "id": "direct-recycling",
      "name": "Direct recycling",
      "section": "topic-recycling",
      "definition": "Recovering cathode material with its crystal structure intact and relithiating it for reuse, instead of breaking it down to metal salts. It promises lower energy and cost but must handle a mix of chemistries and ages.",
      "related": [
        "recycling",
        "hydrometallurgy",
        "cathode-active-material",
        "relithiation",
        "upcycling"
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      "mentions": [
        "cathode"
      ]
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      "id": "topic:topic-recycling",
      "type": "Topic",
      "label": "Recycling and end of life",
      "properties": {
        "id": "topic-recycling",
        "name": "Recycling and end of life",
        "lede": "What happens to a battery after its first life: reuse, and the recycling routes that recover its materials, step by step.",
        "context": "Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.",
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      "id": "term:recycling",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Battery recycling",
      "properties": {
        "id": "recycling",
        "name": "Battery recycling",
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Recovering lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and aluminium from end-of-life cells and production scrap. Scrap is today’s main feedstock; vehicle returns will dominate in the 2030s, and regulation now sets minimum recovery rates.",
        "related": [
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        "definition": "Recycling by dissolving black mass in acid and separating the metals as salts by precipitation and solvent extraction. It recovers lithium and gives battery-grade products, at the cost of chemical consumption and wastewater.",
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          "black-mass",
          "pyrometallurgy",
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        "mentions": [
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    {
      "id": "term:cathode-active-material",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Cathode active material",
      "properties": {
        "id": "cathode-active-material",
        "name": "Cathode active material",
        "abbr": "CAM",
        "section": "topic-components",
        "definition": "The lithium-containing compound in the positive electrode — NMC, NCA, LFP or LCO powder — that supplies the cell’s cyclable lithium. It is the most expensive material in most cells and sets the nominal voltage and much of the energy density.",
        "related": [
          "active-material",
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          "lfp",
          "precursor",
          "specific-capacity"
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        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/cathode-active-material/",
        "mentions": [
          "electrode",
          "positive-electrode",
          "nominal-voltage",
          "energy-density"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:relithiation",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Relithiation",
      "properties": {
        "id": "relithiation",
        "name": "Relithiation",
        "aka": [
          "cathode regeneration",
          "hydrothermal relithiation"
        ],
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Restoring the lithium a used cathode material has lost, by heating it with a lithium salt in the solid state or in a hot lithium solution, and re-annealing the crystal. It is the core step of direct recycling and works best on a single, known chemistry.",
        "related": [
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    {
      "id": "term:upcycling",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Upcycling",
      "properties": {
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        "name": "Upcycling",
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Turning a recovered cathode material into a more valuable one during relithiation — for example converting old NMC111 to a nickel-richer composition — so that direct recycling keeps up with chemistries that change faster than batteries retire.",
        "related": [
          "relithiation",
          "direct-recycling",
          "high-nickel"
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        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/upcycling/",
        "mentions": [
          "cathode"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "term:cathode",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Cathode",
      "properties": {
        "id": "cathode",
        "name": "Cathode",
        "section": "topic-components",
        "definition": "The electrode where reduction happens: the positive electrode on discharge, the negative one on charge. In industry usage, “cathode” means the positive electrode and its material, whatever the cell is doing.",
        "related": [
          "positive-electrode",
          "anode",
          "reduction",
          "cathode-active-material"
        ],
        "lesson": "fundamentals/cell-anatomy/#anode-cathode",
        "example": {
          "title": "Check the reaction",
          "text": "During discharge, the positive electrode is the cathode because reduction occurs there. Charging moves reduction to the negative electrode."
        },
        "url": "https://lemonergy.com/learn/glossary/cathode/",
        "mentions": [
          "electrode"
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "reference:harper-recycling",
      "type": "Reference",
      "label": "Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles",
      "properties": {
        "title": "Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles",
        "publisher": "Nature",
        "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1682-5",
        "type": "Review article",
        "scope": "Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.",
        "year": 2019,
        "authors": [
          "Gavin Harper et al."
        ],
        "accessed": "2026-10-27"
      }
    }
  ]
}