The mining industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the need for improved productivity, safety, cost control and sustainability, with the growing importance of recycling in order for sufficient metals and materials to be available to support the global energy transition. In the last three years alone, there have been over 48,000 patents filed and granted in the mining industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Environment Sustainability in Mining: Battery Metal Recycling.

However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

150+ innovations will shape the mining industry

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the mining industry using innovation intensity models built on over 350,000 patents, there are 150+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, high-energy density electrodes, manufacturability analysis, and solid waste management are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Green steel manufacturing, scrap recycling/recovery, and core-shell nanocrystals are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are green metallurgy, and solvent extraction processes, which are now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for environmental sustainability in the mining industry

Battery metal recycling is a key innovation area in environmental sustainability

Batteries contain a number of heavy metals including some precious metals. Recycling of batteries to extract these metals is a fast-growing industry in itself, especially in growing economies. For example, the nickel in nickel-metal hydride batteries is recovered to make steel. Cobalt, nickel and copper can be recovered from lithium batteries. Mercury is recovered from mercury cell batteries and the decontaminated steel fraction is used to make steel. Battery recycling industry leaders are offering low-carbon mechanical and hydrometallurgical technologies to recycle battery materials in order to recover lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel for reuse in the production of new batteries.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies.  According to GlobalData, there are 80+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established mining companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of battery metal recycling.

Key players in battery metal recycling – a disruptive innovation in the mining industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to battery metal recycling

Company Total patents (2010 - 2021) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
ENEOS Holdings 204 Unlock company profile
Hitachi 45 Unlock company profile
JFE Holdings 33 Unlock company profile
POSCO Holdings 24 Unlock company profile
Hyundai Steel 21 Unlock company profile
Nippon Steel 19 Unlock company profile
Metso Outotec 17 Unlock company profile
Barrick Gold 16 Unlock company profile
China Energy Investment 16 Unlock company profile
Jinchuan Group 14 Unlock company profile
Vale 14 Unlock company profile
Orbite Technologies 14 Unlock company profile
Outokumpu 12 Unlock company profile
Dowa Holdings 11 Unlock company profile
Heraeus Holding 11 Unlock company profile
Nippon Steel Nisshin 10 Unlock company profile
Lixivia 7 Unlock company profile
Hyundai Motor Group 6 Unlock company profile
Voestalpine 5 Unlock company profile
Kia 5 Unlock company profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Leaders in battery metal recycling include ENEOS Corporation and JFE Holdings. ENEOS Corporation has pioneered the recovery of high-purity metal salts from automotive lithium-ion batteries. In 2020, the company began operating bench-scale equipment installed in its Hitachi Works Technology Development Center for technological and system development for closed-loop recycling, in which resources are recovered from used automotive lithium-ion batteries and reused as raw materials for new automotive lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, in 2021, the company started trials for nickel sulphate recovery and introduced a new process at its Tsuruga Plant based on this bench-scale equipment.

JFE recycles used batteries, which are collected as general waste through public waste collection and are melted in high-temperature electric furnaces, allowing for the extraction of iron, manganese, and zinc, which can then be reused for other purposes.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the mining industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Mining.

GlobalData

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article. 

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.