FREE4LIB x RHINOCEROS Collaboration
Introduction – What is Rhinoceros?
Like FREE4LIB, Rhinoceros is a research project funded by the European Union to develop “new routes towards sustainable reuse & recycling of lithium ion batteries (LIBS)". Due to the thematic overlap it was decided to have regular meetings to exchange information and ideas.
Both projects are also part of the Cluster Hub initiative with many more projects. The idea behind is to facilitate collaboration among different research institutes, industry and innovation stakeholders driving the recycling of batteries and the production of raw materials for battery applications from primary and secondary resources available in Europe.
What we presented
In September 2023, Pau Sanchis and Julius Ott were invited for an online presentation at the Rhinoceros consortium meeting in Gothenburg. Pau presented the current state of the legislation and Julius presented the ongoing developments for the battery passport concept. Regarding the legislation already in place, we know that the information related to the battery model, including general details in Annex VI, material composition, carbon footprint, recycled content, due diligence report, lifetime, cell, and pack resistance, renewable content share, rated capacity, voltage, power, declaration of conformity, and other technical specifications, will be publicly accessible. However, the detailed composition, encompassing information about cathode, anode, electrolyte, part numbers for components and contact details of sources for replacement spares, dismantling procedures, and safety measures, will be accessible exclusively to the European Commission and individuals with a legitimate interest.
The battery passport concept includes a description of information assymetry between production and recycling and derivation of data points that should be included in a battery passport. The data points, as keywords that summarize use cases, where derived from interviews and workshops with the FREE4LIB consortium. Furthermore, we presented a description of the data flow among different value chain actors and the possible challenges that can occur in the process.
Outcome - next steps
Keep in contact, further meetings, maybe invite somebody from Rhinoceros to present at a FREE4LIB consortium meeting
Helpful links:
Homepage - Rhinoceros project(rhinoceros-project.eu)
Homepage - Materialsfor Batteries Hub
