Recently, students from the Energy Storage Science and Engineering program (Class of 2022) at the College of Energy Storage Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, came to North Star Recycling to carry out a professional production internship. Led by Chang Long, Director of the Department of Energy Storage at the College; Bao Jingran, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Energy Storage Society; Professor Yang Ze; and Wang Xiao, a full-time staff member of the Society, the students gained their first in-depth exposure to the front line of the battery circular-utilization industry, getting a close-up look at a key link in the full life cycle of energy storage materials.
The internship team first visited the corporate exhibition hall of North Star Recycling, the best starting point for understanding the company’s development history and technology system.
Through the systematic introduction in the exhibition hall, the students not only learned how North Star Recycling grew into a leading enterprise in the battery recycling field, but also gained a preliminary understanding of the complete circular system of the energy storage industry—from ‘production–use–recycling–regeneration’—which is an important extension of the study of Energy Storage Science and Engineering.
After leaving the exhibition hall, the internship team entered the demonstration workshop of North Star Recycling. Here, the chemical principles and scientific knowledge learned in the classroom were transformed into real, tangible process flows.
By learning about the recycling and treatment process of retired batteries on site, the students gained an intuitive understanding of the circular utilization of energy storage materials. In particular, seeing that regenerated materials can be reused in battery manufacturing, achieving closed-loop utilization of resources, gave them a more concrete grasp of the concept of a circular economy.
The complete process flow from retired batteries to regenerated materials clearly demonstrates how circular technology transforms ‘waste materials’ into ‘urban minerals’, providing key support for the sustainable development of the energy storage industry.
With the rapid development of the new energy industry, demand for professionals in the battery recycling and utilization field is growing day by day. As an innovation platform focused on circular technology, North Star Recycling continues to build bridges between university and enterprise, promoting ‘the integration of industry and education, and learning for practical application’.
The visit by students from the College of Energy Storage Technology of Shandong University of Science and Technology was a vivid practice of university–enterprise cooperation. This practical course on the circular utilization of energy storage materials closely connected industry frontiers with professional education. The students not only deepened their understanding of the energy storage discipline, but also opened up more possibilities for their future career development, injecting new vitality into the sustainable development of energy storage technology, and jointly pointing toward a resource-circular and environment-friendly tomorrow.