Chinese Researchers Discover a Way to Recycle 99.9% of Electric Car Batteries: The Glycine in Your Protein Shakes

The automotive industry is increasingly transitioning to electrification. Whether vehicles are fully electric, hybrids, or mild hybrids, they all have one thing in common: They rely on batteries. This dependence brings a significant long-term challenge. What happens to these batteries at the end of the vehicle’s life cycle? Although recycling should be the solution, current methods produce considerable waste and fail to recover all lithium and other components effectively.

However, Chinese researchers may have discovered a way to recover 99.99% of the lithium in batteries. Notably, the key might be in glycine, a compound commonly found in protein shakes used for building muscle.

A must. The reliance on lithium batteries is concerning. Many devices use these batteries. The demand is particularly high for electric vehicles, which require significantly larger quantities. As a result, global lithium production has quadrupled from 2010 to 2022. What’s more, it’s estimated that the demand for lithium may soon surpass the planet’s supply.

Recycling challenges. Recycling a battery–especially large automotive batteries–can be a lengthy process. Batteries must be fully discharged before they can be safely handled. After that, there are two established recycling methods:

• Hydrometallurgy: This method involves using acids to dissolve metals in a process known as leaching, allowing for the recovery of both lithium and nickel/cobalt. It’s estimated that 99% of these metals can be reused for new batteries.
• Pyrometallurgy: Melting components at temperatures around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit allows for the separation of cobalt, nickel, and copper from aluminum, lithium, and manganese. A subsequent hydrometallurgy process is necessary to recover lithium after pyrometallurgy.

Both methods have notable drawbacks. Hydrometallurgy is environmentally problematic due to the use of acids, which lead to pollution and liquid waste generation. Additionally, the process can be slow due to the time required to decompose and separate the materials. On the other hand, while pyrometallurgy is faster, it produces significant carbon dioxide emissions and consumes a large amount of energy.

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Glycine. Battery recycling needs more sustainable alternatives, and glycine offers a promising solution. Researchers from China’s Central South University, Guizhou University, and the National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Energy Storage Materials have developed a method that can recycle 99.9% of materials in a battery with reduced pollution.

Glycine is a non-essential amino acid found in proteins. Their study demonstrates that this compound can efficiently recover 99.99% of lithium, 96.86% of nickel, 92.35% of copper, and 90.59% of manganese from used batteries.

Turbohydrometallurgy. Chinese researchers explain that creating a mild leaching environment is key to this process. They substitute the “hard” acids typically used in battery recycling with neutral pH solutions that include glycine. As such, it’s possible to break down the materials of old batteries and subsequently recover the elements needed for new equipment.

When used batteries are placed in contact with a solution containing iron salt, sodium oxalate, and liquid glycine, a layer of iron forms on the batteries. This layer acts as the anode, while the battery material being recycled serves as the cathode. This chemical arrangement initiates a process that breaks down the battery structure, facilitating the independent dissolution of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Remarkably, the entire process takes just 15 minutes.

Recycling vs. mining. The study indicates that this method is cheaper and more energy-efficient, with lower emissions compared to traditional hydrometallurgy techniques that utilize acids or ammonia. For now, these results have only been tested in a laboratory setting, and their effectiveness in real-world scenarios remains to be seen. However, recycling could advance the electrification of the automotive industry without leading to an increase in lithium mining.

In late January 2025, researchers at Stanford University published a study comparing the benefits of recycling lithium-ion batteries with mining new materials. These were their key findings:

• 58% to 81% less greenhouse gases are emitted.
• 72% to 88% less water is used.
• 77% to 89% less energy is consumed.
• It also produces less soot and sulfur.

The race to recycle batteries. The results stem from a patented method developed by university researchers. It operates similarly to pyrometallurgy but at lower temperatures and emissions. Whether it’s the Stanford or glycine methods, the race to recycle electric vehicle batteries is underway.

In addition, a Princeton University team is exploring low-temperature plasma techniques to replace traditional pyrometallurgy methods. Several companies have contracts with BMW and Mercedes to recycle car batteries. They employ microwave radiation methods to separate components, which can recover up to 87% of lithium in just 15 minutes.

There’s currently a race for electrification. Clearly, there’s also ongoing research into how to reuse batteries that are no longer suitable for new cars but can still contribute to the production of different vehicles–at least until solid-state batteries arrive.

Image | Aleksander Saks

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