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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
From February 3 to 5, 2026, the 2nd Conference on Battery Direct Recycling brought together international experts from research, industry, and politics at the Congress Centrum Würzburg. The event, organized for the second time by the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, demonstrated how the field of research into the direct recycling of battery materials has developed in just one and a half years.
The first conference in 2024 established a strong community with over 150 participants. The second edition, with more than 170 participants, underscores the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress in the field of direct recycling with an even broader spectrum of contributions. A particular highlight was the 13 presentations from industry and the small but impressive industry exhibition, emphasizing the increasing practical relevance and market proximity of the recycling processes presented – and the interest of companies in investing in this future technology.
A Thought-provoking Start: A Question of the Right Definition
Direct recycling means recovering the components of batteries that are crucial for energy storage from end-of-life batteries or production scrap in the most direct route and reusing them directly in batteries, i.e., recycling that preserves material functionality. Until now, recycling has been destructive, i.e., function of the materials is destroyed, meaning that only a few raw materials are recovered from the batteries and these must be fed back into a costly processing and production process. Faced with the growing task of recycling future quantities of end-of-life batteries in an economically viable, resource-saving, and environmentally friendly manner, the advanced approach is receiving significant support from battery manufacturers and automobile manufacturers. Premium manufacturer BMW, for example, recently commissioned a research facility for the direct recycling of production scrap.
Diverse Program: From Politics to Processes to Reintegration
The scientific program comprised ten sessions and offered 48 oral presentations and more than 40 poster presentations focusing on topics such as methods and processes, design for circularity, sustainability and digitalization, and policy and market frameworks. Representatives from renowned institutions such as Fraunhofer Institutes, universities in Europe, North America, and Asia, as well as numerous industrial companies presented the latest findings on issues surrounding the direct recycling of battery materials—delamination, structural repair, process simulation, LFP and NMC recycling routes, automated dismantling, and materials characterization.
Impulses From Europe: EU Projects and Regulatory Dynamics
Numerous European initiatives and projects were prominently represented, including BATTERY 2030+, the European battery initiative, and a number of forward-looking European collaborative projects including RENOVATE, ReUse, RESPECT, REVITALISE, and ReMade@ARI. They showed how European programs contribute directly to the further development of technological solutions and a growing market—from the establishment of digital data structures and automated disassembly processes to new methods of material characterization. Patrik Johansson, head of the BATTERY 2030+ initiative, emphasized the importance of training future researchers in this context and stated "The battery community is larger than ever and the DRC 2026 clearly showed how we embrace this. We are also qualitatively not the same as 5 years ago and the most notable difference of these changes is the emphasis on (direct) recycling and circularity - all with a common sustainable battery future at the horizon." The political dimension was also strongly represented: contributions on EU regulation, the Battery Passport, and the circu-lar economy illustrated how, despite technological advances, scalability, economic efficiency, and regulatory frameworks remain key challenges.
A Growing Field of Research with Clear Challenges and Opportunities
In her closing remarks, Conference Chair Dr. Guinevere Giffin, also speaking on behalf of Co-Chairs Dr. Andreas Flegler and Dr. Michael Hofmann from Fraunhofer ISC, drew an impressive conclusion: The scientific depth and diversity of the contributions had "de-veloped enormously" since 2024 – from mechanistic findings to process integration. Direct recycling is not a uniform approach, but rather a toolbox of different routes that offers the most economically and ecologically sensible solution depending on the input stream. The development of a valuable shared toolbox of methods, data, and material knowledge is crucial for future industrial scaling. Persistent challenges such as binder removal, reintegration, performance degradation due to, for example, electrical properties, porosity, and adhesion remain core research areas for direct recycling.
Dr. Guinevere Giffin, guinevere.giffin@isc.fraunhofer.de
Dr. Andreas Flegler, andreas.flegler@isc.fraunhofer.de
Dr. Michael Hofmann, michael.hofmann@isc.fraunhofer.de
Two and a half days of highly concentrated lectures at the DRC 2026 in Würzburg
Source: K. Selsam
Copyright: Fraunhofer ISC
Scientific exchange during the poster session on the first evening of the conference
Source: K. Selsam
Copyright: Fraunhofer ISC
Criteria of this press release:
Business and commerce, Journalists, Scientists and scholars
Chemistry, Electrical engineering, Energy, Environment / ecology, Materials sciences
transregional, national
Scientific conferences, Transfer of Science or Research
English
Two and a half days of highly concentrated lectures at the DRC 2026 in Würzburg
Source: K. Selsam
Copyright: Fraunhofer ISC
Scientific exchange during the poster session on the first evening of the conference
Source: K. Selsam
Copyright: Fraunhofer ISC
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