Large-scale lithium-ion battery pack recycling

Conference poster, 2024

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are the most common choice of energy storage technology for battery electric vehicle (EV) applications today. Specifically, the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry is favored due to its properties such as high energy density, high voltage, low self-discharge rate, long cycle life, and high charging and discharging rate capability. Several key constituents used in the NMC chemistry, such as cobalt and lithium, are already listed by the European Commission in their critical raw materials list, while nickel is listed as a strategic material with demand expected to rise for EVs in the coming years. Additionally, extraction and production of these raw materials are energy- and chemical-intensive processes that often leads to local, regional, and global pollution. Thus, to address the environmental aspects of raw material extraction and supply constraints, battery manufacturers are actively working with secondary material suppliers (battery recyclers) to address the growing demand for raw materials in their LIBs for the coming years.

This study will develop scenarios for the future hydrometallurgical recycling of LIBs to assess its potential recycling to reduce the environmental pollution impacts of LIBs. Data in terms of energy, and chemical use for recycling will be sourced from a leading large-scale battery recycler in Sweden. The recycling facility will apply hydrometallurgical processes to recover the cobalt, lithium, nickel, and other materials from NMC batteries. The study will implement a prospective life cycle assessment model to evaluate the environmental and resource implications of using recycled materials in LIBs. A sub-goal of the study will be to assess whether the supply of secondary materials in the future meet the demand of the raw materials in the batteries. The results are expected reveal the potential of large-scale hydrometallurgical recycling for reducing impacts of NMC LIBs.