Image: TozeroThe project name ‘MeGaBat’ stands for ‘Methods for the electrochemical recovery of active battery materials.’ With this approach, the Fraunhofer Institute is developing an alternative to the hydrometallurgical battery recycling processes currently in use.The new process is designed to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption and to avoid chemicals such as alkalis or acids. At the same time, the electrochemical method is intended to ensure that ‘valuable raw materials and rare earths at high yield and high purity, thereby closing the product loop and reducing dependencies,’ said Dr Julian Schwenzel, Head of Electrical Energy Storage at Fraunhofer IFAM.The concept behind the technology is straightforward: the process water generated during battery recycling flows into an electrochemical reactor. According to the team, the reactor contains two electrodes produced by Fraunhofer IFAM researchers using screen printing.“With their special properties, the electrodes selectively extract and store ions from the wastewater,” explained Cleis Santos, manager of the group for Electrochemical Processes for Recycling and Water Treatment. “This enables them to extract, for example, lithium ions, and we then obtain the separated substance as a high-purity powder at the end of the process.”After isolating the desired material, the system returns the cleaned water to the process.According to Santos, the team can adapt the electrodes to bind and recover other scarce raw materials from wastewater, such as cobalt, nickel or copper.“In the long term, it is conceivable that wastewater could be routed through multiple reactors in a large-scale system,” she added. “We could thus recycle various critical raw materials within the same plant.”The process is also expected to improve both the purity of recovered raw materials and overall efficiency. The Fraunhofer Institute estimates efficiency gains of 30 to 40 per cent.Department head Julian Schwenzel adds: “In the future, EU regulations will require that manufacturers more frequently declare their total carbon footprint from raw material to finished product, and new products must also contain a greater fraction of recycled material.” Efficiency and quality of recovery are therefore becoming increasingly important.”Researchers at Fraunhofer IFAM have already successfully tested the technology in the laboratory and are now working on a large pilot plant. In future, the system could also recover rare earth elements, for example from electronic waste.“So far, we’ve had to import 100 per cent of our rare earth elements. Our process would enable us to reduce this dependency,” said group leader Santos.For further details, the researchers will present a model of the electrochemical process at Hannover Messe from 20 to 24 April 2026. In addition to battery recycling and the future recovery of rare earth elements from electronic waste, the technology could also be applied to seawater desalination and hospital wastewater treatment. The MeGaBat project is scheduled to run until the end of 2028 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space.ifam.fraunhofer.de
