FREE4LIB: the circular economy project for batteries is launched!
January 25, 2023
As our mobility evolves and electric cars become more widespread, the question of the durability of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) remains.
With this in mind, the FREE4LIB (Feasible REcovery of critical raw materials through a new circular Ecosystem FOR a Li-Ion Battery cross-value chain in Euope) project was born.
The project is the initiative of 22 European partners: Fundación CARTIF (coordinator) (Spain), Accurec Recycling (Germany), Aliénor (Belgium), AIMPLAS (Spain), Eurobat (Belgium), AVL (Austria), CSIC (Spain), Erion Energy (Italy), Fraunhofer (Germany), Eurecat (Spain), IREC-CERCA (Spain), Fundazione Bruno Kessler (Italy), Istituto sui trasporti e la logistica (ITL) (Italy), Lurederra (Spain), NextMove, NESSTEC (Turkey), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Recyclia (Spain), Sakarya Universitesi (Turkey), TORRECID (Spain), UNIGRAZ (Austria), Watt4Ever (Belgium).
The project if funded by Horizon Europe and will run for 4 years, ending in September 2026.
FREE4LIB aims to develop 9 sustainable and efficient processes on aspects such as dismantling, pre-treatment and material recovery processes for the recycling of end-of-life LIBs (EOL LIB). Thanks to innovative recycling solutions, the project's ambition is also to improve the supply of secondary resources at EU level.
To this end, the project's activities consist of :
- Collecting information to optimize in-house recycling processes;
- On the basis of this data, the design, development and evaluation of processes combining innovative and existing technologies;
- Assessment of technical, economic, environmental and social sustainability to identify potential levers for life-cycle improvement;
- Deployment of Battery Passports that collect information throughout the battery life cycle, with the data collected supporting battery designers' improvement efforts;
- Engaging relevant stakeholders to ensure understanding among citizens, stakeholders and legislators.
The project was launched in September 2021, and several activities involving cluster members are planned throughout its lifetime. For further information, feel free to contact our team.
