Japan develops a method to recover up to 90% of lithium from used EV batteries
摘要
文章报道日本科学家开发新回收技术，从使用中的 EV 电池中回收锂，目标达到 90%。传统回收仅能回收不到 50% 的材料。这项技术使用回收的氢氧化锂替代氢氧化钠，将废电池（黑粉）转化为高纯度可再利用的锂。相比传统方法，该工艺可将碳排放降低约 40%。日本目前几乎完全依赖进口电池矿物，通过国内回收可稳定供应链。但目前日本只有约 14% 的废锂离子电池进入官方回收系统，基础设施亟待升级。2027 年生产规模将进一步扩大，2035 年可年处理数万吨材料。
荐读理由
日本用回收锂氢氧化锂替代标准氢氧化钠处理黑质，可回收EV废电池中约90%锂，相比传统方法提纯率提升，碳排放降低约40%，这一回收方法可迁移到你的AI工程项目中
原文
Japan develops a method to recover up to 90% of lithium from used EV batteries and it could be a major breakthrough
Published on Apr 22, 2026 at 7:38 PM (UTC+4)
Last updated on Apr 24, 2026 at 8:36 PM (UTC+4) · Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Get our stories first Follow Supercar Blondie on Google News
In a ground-breaking step forward, Scientists from Japan have developed a new method to recover up to 90 percent of lithium from used EV batteries – and it suddenly feels like great news on Earth Day.
With electric vehicles booming worldwide, the pressure is mounting to find smarter ways to deal with old battery waste.
This new technique doesn’t just recycle materials; it recovers most of them at an unbelievable rate.
And if it delivers at scale, it could change how EV batteries are made and reused for years to come.
A new method to recover up to 90% of lithium from used EV batteries
This huge breakthrough in tech has come from a recycling facility in Japan, where engineers have managed to extract around 90 percent of lithium from used batteries.
That’s a huge leap compared to traditional methods, which often recover less than 50 percent of the material, especially since it feels like a win to celebrate this Earth Day.
At the heart of the process is a clever chemical tweak; instead of using standard sodium hydroxide, the team swapped in recovered lithium hydroxide during recycling, which is a white powder.
This helps convert battery waste, known as ‘black mass’, into high-purity lithium that can be reused in new batteries.
Even better, the process isn’t just efficient, it’s better for the environment too, because researchers say it can cut carbon emissions by around 40 percent compared to conventional recycling techniques.
It could be a major breakthrough for the future of EVs
This matters because lithium is one of the most critical ingredients in EV batteries, and demand is skyrocketing, as well as mining being expensive, energy-intensive, and often geopolitically complicated.
By recovering lithium domestically, Japan could reduce its reliance on imports and stabilise supply chains.
In fact, the country currently imports almost all of its battery minerals, so recycling at this scale could be a game-changer.
Massive geopolitical shift. NHK World confirms Japan has perfected a revolutionary process to extract high purity lithium from dead batteries with a staggering 90 percent recovery rate. This brilliant technological leap guarantees Japan's absolute economic security. pic.twitter.com/O7ENxLHcNb
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 8, 2026
There are still challenges, though: only about 14 percent of used lithium-ion batteries in Japan currently make it into official recycling systems, meaning collection infrastructure needs a serious upgrade.
But with plans to make production even more powerful by 2027 and extract tens of thousands of tons of materials annually by 2035, this innovation could be a big turning point.
If adopted globally, it might not just change lives in Japan; it could save the world.
Related
Tags - EV, Japan, Lithium, Tech
这条对你有帮助吗？