Material Flow Analysis of Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling in Europe: Environmental and Economic Implications

Abstract

This study aimed at a quantitative analysis of the material flows associated with End of Life (EoL) lithium-ion batteries’ (LIBs) materials in Europe. The European electric vehicles fleet in 2020 was taken as a case study, assuming a 10-year lifetime for the batteries and that the related EoL LIBs would be processed by existing recycling plants via pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, or their combination in sequence. The economic implications (recycling operative costs compared to the revenues from the sales of the recycled metals) and the environmental performances (CO2 eq. emitted, energy demand and circularity performances) were assessed. Based on the gathered results, the existing European recycling capacity will overlook over 78% of the forecasted EoL LIBs. The treatment efficiencies of the full-scale recycling processes allow for the recovery of over 90% of copper, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, 87% of aluminum, and only 42% of lithium and 35% of iron entering the recycling facilities. In overall, LIBs recycling in 2030 will involve the emission of 3.7 Mt of CO2 eq. and an energy demand of 33.6 GWh. Hydrometallurgy presents the best economic and environmental trade-off compared to other recycling strategies. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that current European LIBs’ recycling infrastructure will be inadequate in the near future and the direction (i.e., hydrometallurgy) that its strengthening should pursue.

Addressing preliminary challenges in upscaling the recovery of lithium from spent lithium ion batteries by the electrochemical method: a review

“…3 ). 25 The inconsistency in the recycling rates raises concerns about efficiency and stresses the urgency of Li recycling initiatives, highlighting the need for intensified efforts in the reality of escalating resource challenges. Fig.…”

“…3 details the recovery rates of minerals from spent LIBs, which encompasses the rates from the total generated spent LIB (X Total ) and the rates from the total spent LIB entering recycling plants (X Treat ). 25 …”

An Antisolvent Extraction Strategy for Extrusion Granulation Enhancement of Aluminum-Based Lithium Adsorbent Used in Ultrahigh Mg2+/Li+ Salt Lake Brines

“…Lithium has seen a constant increase in demand with the rapid promotion of electric vehicles and the vigorous development of energy storage technology worldwide. − Lithium recovery from brines is relatively feasible from economic and environmental considerations, which has attracted enormous interest from researchers in recent decades. − The adsorption method of extracting lithium is particularly suitable for low-lithium-grade brines with an ultrahigh Mg 2+ /Li + mass ratio that is far more than 20 because it is highly selective, simple, low cost, and environmentally friendly. − Up to date, the aluminum-based lithium adsorbents, lithium/aluminum-layered double hydroxides (Li/Al-LDHs), are the first successfully industrialized adsorbents used in brines for lithium recovery, attributing to their desorption properties without solubility loss. − Li/Al-LDHs are typical two-dimensional structures and consist of positively charged host layers formed by Al–O octahedra and linked by hydrogen bonds with anions and water molecules sandwiched. Lithium cations exist in the holes of the hydroxide layers composed of the Al–O octahedral without forming chemical bonds with other elements. , …”

The Recycling of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries and the Phase Characterisation of Black Mass

“…Following the removal of residual electrolyte, the batteries undergo a physical, thermomechanical process to produce a fine powder known as 'black mass' [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The volume of black mass is anticipated to increase over the next few decades as more batteries come onto the market in electrified transportation and stationary storage, and reach EoL [7,8]. If there is a future scarcity of primary geological sources of battery minerals, the recycling of black mass could provide an alternative supply of battery metals, including cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel and copper, whilst also reducing the need for waste disposal.…”