JB Straubelwho was one of the founders of Tesla and Chief Technology Officer of the electric mobility company, founded a technology company in 2017. battery recycling called Redwood Materials, and years later it is achieving very good results despite the controversy related to this process and other challenges.
In any case, the company seeks put an end to one of the biggest problems of the electric car: Defective or worn batteries, as they are one of the most polluting components of this type of vehicle.
Redwood Materials currently has the largest battery recycling plant in North America. The company founded by JB Straubel Has got create a process that recovers up to 95% of lithium that contain used batteries, both from electric vehicles and other electronic devices, as well as a large part of the copper, nickel, manganese or graphite that these components include.
In an interview with Bloombergthe former manager of Tesla stated that These materials are used to make complex battery components which are usually imported from other countries.
He also assures that the objective of his company is “to design a solution so that the country recovers and recycles the greatest amount of material as quickly as possible,” and that although many battery recycling companies have emerged as a result of the success of Redwood Materials “thinking it would be something easy,” it is not something that will be built overnight but “over many years, perhaps decades.”
Redwood Materials’ challenges in battery recycling
The former Chief Technology Officer of Tesla has also spoken with the aforementioned media about the challenges of a battery recycling company, which range from the lack of financing from the US Government, to construction or the difficulty in finding customers. However, battery recycling is not without controversy.
Battery recycling It can also have a high environmental impact. Above all, if other components such as magnesium or nickel are not recycled. In this case, Redwood Materials has designed recycling processes to be able to reuse other types of materials that can be harmful to the environment.
One of them is a process called hydrometallurgy, where liquid solutions are used to, say, clean materials such as nickel and lithium so that they can be used again. The company founded by one of Tesla’s most important executives also carries out a process called reductive calcination, which reduces the environmental impact and, specifically, minimizes the carbon combustion of the main battery materials to reduce CO2 emissions.
