Approaching major RENOVATE milestones: A big step in recovering and reusing graphite from battery waste.

The RENOVATE project has reached a major milestone in its goal to develop circular and chemistry-neutral solutions for battery recycling. This success extends beyond the recovery of graphite from battery black mass; it also includes testing its electrochemical performance to evaluate its reuse in spent lithium-ion batteries.

The UNIPV team developed a green and scalable froth flotation process. This water-based method uses the natural hydrophobic properties of graphite to separate and recover it from spent lithium-ion battery black mass. This work was supported by strong collaboration from CIIAE. 

The process was applied to two samples: one provided by our RENOVATE partner FAAM,  and another from an Indian supplier. A sustainable mix of paraffin and pine oil was used during flotation, followed by citric acid washing and thermal treatment under argon. The result? High-purity graphite: 99.9% for the FAAM sample and 95.5% for the Indian one, as confirmed by TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), EDS (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy), and elemental analysis.

To evaluate the potential of this material in new batteries, CIIAE tested the electrochemical performance of the recovered graphite. Both samples showed excellent performance and stability: even at higher charge rates, the graphite maintained strong performance, confirming its suitability for fast-charging applications.

Further analysis revealed differences in structure and composition. The FAAM graphite showed lower structural disorder, lower impurity levels, and higher carbon content, while the Indian sample had slightly more metallic impurities.

This represents an important step forward for RENOVATE. By recovering graphite and confirming its performance through real electrochemical tests, we are moving closer to closing the loop in the battery value chain. It shows that sustainable recycling processes can produce high-quality materials suitable for reuse in advanced battery applications, a core objective of the project.