Battery knowledge · Recycling and end of life

Deep eutectic solvent

A mixture of two cheap compounds, such as choline chloride and urea, that melts far below either component and can dissolve metal oxides. It is studied as a milder, recyclable leaching medium for cathode materials.

Abbreviation
DES

Example

Recycling and end of life: an example situation

High mass recovery alone does not establish battery-grade purity or refining energy demand.

Read Deep eutectic solvent alongside Direct recycling in this context. 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.

Use in Lemonergy

Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.

This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

  1. Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

    Topic background · Battery construction, recycling routes and U.S. waste-management context.

  2. Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles

    Gavin Harper et al. · Nature · 2019

    Topic background · Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.