Second delamination / film delamination for production rejects
In addition to recycling complete batteries, No Canary also offers a solution for recycling production waste from battery cell manufacturing. Specifically, this involves foil delamination: We can process coated electrode foils (e.g., scrap rolls or offcuts from lithium-ion battery manufacturers) in such a way that the valuable coating materials—i.e., active masses such as lithium, nickel, cobalt (on aluminum foil), or graphite (on copper foil)—are removed and recovered.
No Canary is tapping into not only the end-of-life recycling market, but also the large sector of production waste in gigafactories. Our technology recovers almost 100% of raw materials from the seemingly “worthless” residues of cell production, which could be fed directly back into the manufacturing process. We therefore offer a high-tech recycling solution that starts at the battery manufacturing stage and creates both economic and ecological benefits – a strong signal to all those who want to invest in sustainable plant engineering solutions.
We supply a special delamination module for battery manufacturers or recyclers that is specifically designed for coated metal foils (cathode and anode foils). This process step is used in particular when pure electrode material without a housing or separator is processed, as is the case with rejects from cell production. Our system can process, for example, edge sections of foil rolls, incorrectly coated batches, or superimposed electrodes. What exactly do we offer? The module first mechanically shreds the foils into suitable pieces, if they are not already small. The pieces are then treated in the delamination mill so that the active material layer flakes off the foil. In principle, this is similar to the battery process, except that in most cases we do not have liquid electrolytes here, but rather “dry” fresh coatings with binders. Our system removes this coating – whether it is lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (on Al foil) or graphite/Si (on Cu foil) – almost completely from the metal foils. We then separate the resulting powder fraction (active material) from the now bare foil scraps.
This is done, for example, by air classification or screening, similar to the regular process, but possibly in several stages. The result: the customer receives high-purity active material powder (which is essentially equivalent to black mass, but without electrolyte contamination) and clean metal foil (aluminum or copper pieces) that can be remelted or even directly reprocessed as secondary foil. We therefore offer OEMs the opportunity to return their production waste directly to production or convert it into recyclable materials – and recyclers a plant to treat this special waste stream. The scope of delivery includes all necessary components: shredder (if necessary), mixer/delaminator, separation screens/zig-zag separators, pneumatic conveying, etc., adapted to the scrap material. The module can run independently or be integrated into an existing line.