Ames National Laboratory and the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI) have won two 2024 R&D 100 awards.
Sponsored by R&D World magazine, this international science and innovation competition recognizes new commercial products, technologies, and materials for their technological significance that are available for sale or license.
One of the winning technologies, developed at Ames National Laboratory, is a battery recycling process that recovers lithium, graphite, cathode materials and more from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. The water-based process is simple, efficient, and safe, and does not use any acids, reducing toxic impacts on the environment. The process also produces green hydrogen, a clean energy source, as a co-product. This research was supported by Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University.
In addition, a CMI-funded innovation developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was awarded. Direct lithium extraction sorbents technology presents a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries. Read more about that technology here.
News Link: R&D 100 Winners for 2024 are announced