JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
There's a race underway in the world of electric vehicles, but it is not about sprint times. This race is about who's going to recycle EV batteries here in the U.S. Right now, much of it happens in Asia, and shipping valuable minerals halfway around the world has costs in terms of money, carbon emissions, U.S. jobs. NPR's Camila Domonoske takes us to one of the companies trying to remake the geography of battery recycling.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Past a lab with liquids spinning and dripping in giant beakers - quick pause for safety gear.
ERIC GRATZ: So let's grab some goggles.
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DOMONOSKE: Through a nondescript door...
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DOMONOSKE: ...There's a miniature chemical plant tacked onto the back of Ascend Elements' R&D facility in Massachusetts. Now, miniature is relative.
GRATZ: I mean, we have tanks that are up to 18 feet tall.
DOMONOSKE: Eric Gratz is Ascend's co-founder and chief technical officer.
GRATZ: And then this one here, which is taller than me, is one of our smallest tanks.
DOMONOSKE: But this is a fraction of the size of the factory Ascend is building in Kentucky. This month, this little plant sent its first commercial shipment of battery materials fully recycled in the U.S. The company thinks that's a first for their kind of product. They'll go back into batteries for things like electric construction vehicles. If you don't recycle batteries, they're hazardous waste, but if you do, they're a valuable resource. The more you recycle, the less you need to mine. Step one is collecting and pulverizing batteries. Employee Brian Garland scoops some black powder for me.
BRIAN GARLAND: Hang on, let me just give you a little so you can see it. And that's what we get from shredding the batteries.
DOMONOSKE: Literally shredding them - this step has been happening in the U.S. for a while. But today, that powder of jumbled up minerals mostly gets shipped to Asia, where companies had a big head start on building battery supply chains for the next steps. These molecules are going on a short journey here in the states. Gratz leads the tour.
GRATZ: Then you get pumped down to that leaching tank there where you'll be dissolved in sulfuric acid.
DOMONOSKE: Some of the minerals, like nickel and cobalt, dissolve. The graphite in the mix doesn't. That helps sort them apart.
GRATZ: Then you're going to go over to our impurity removal station.
DOMONOSKE: The exact combination of minerals gets fine-tuned, and finally, it's dried back into a powder, currently sitting on a shelf in 25-pound bags.
GRATZ: So it comes in as a powder, and it's leaving as a powder. It's just coming in, you know, very impure and - but leaving very pure.
DOMONOSKE: Doing this whole process in the states is a priority for the Biden administration. The idea is to promote jobs and secure supply chains as well as fight climate change. The federal government is pouring money into this industry. But it's not just where this is happening that's different. Companies are trying to make the process more efficient and cleaner. At Ascend's R&D lab right next to that production line, Matthew Valdiviezo, standing before a beaker of swirling bright teal liquid, says chemistry is all about rules.
MATTHEW VALDIVIEZO: So we're trying to manipulate the rules here to make us money in the long run, you know, and help the planet, of course.
DOMONOSKE: Environmental groups do think battery recycling can help the planet if it's done right. To explain how these processes are improving - imagine you have a big LEGO creation, and you want to make a different LEGO creation. Melting it down to make new Lego bricks would obviously be a huge waste of energy. Taking it apart and sorting all the bricks - that's more finicky, but cleaner. Now, Ascend figured out you don't even have to sort all the bricks.
GRATZ: We're just removing the 2% that we don't want and keeping the 98% that we want together.
DOMONOSKE: Lots of companies with different approaches are scaling up battery recycling in the states and trying to do it quickly. At Ascend, Rebecca Neslusan is testing samples and feeling a sense of urgency.
REBECCA NESLUSAN: The pressure is on to, you know, make this product. And as fast as we can do it, it's not fast enough even then.
DOMONOSKE: In fact, the very existence of this mini chemical plant is a testament to this pressure. This is a research lab. There was never meant to be a commercial line here, but the EV industry is demanding recycled minerals now. And Ascend's billion-dollar plant in Kentucky - it's due to open next year.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News, Westboro, Mass.
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