A new thermal process for the direct treatment of lithium batteries is being developed for an efficient raw material
recovery of e.g. lithium, cobalt, nickel and aluminium. In particular, the control of the thermal runaway under specifically induced and defined process conditions is the subject of investigation. In addition, a database will be
available for the first time to characterize and classify battery systems with regard to battery type, heterogeneity of battery components, battery chemistry, and shape of battery case. Finally, a mathematical process model for a furnace reactor will be developed that can be used to describe the phenomenology of thermal runaway coupled with the process-relevant heat and mass transport models.