IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v24y2020i6p1310-1322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward a cell‐chemistry specific life cycle assessment of lithium‐ion battery recycling processes

Author

Listed:
  • Marit Mohr
  • Jens F. Peters
  • Manuel Baumann
  • Marcel Weil

Abstract

On the basis of a review of existing life cycle assessment studies on lithium‐ion battery recycling, we parametrize process models of state‐of‐the‐art pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling, enabling their application to different cell chemistries, including beyond‐lithium batteries such as sodium‐ion batteries. These processes are used as benchmark for evaluating an advanced hydrometallurgical recycling process, which is modeled on the basis of primary data obtained from a recycling company, quantifying the potential reduction of environmental impacts that can be achieved by the recycling of different cell chemistries. Depending on the cell chemistry, recycling can reduce significantly the potential environmental impacts of battery production. The highest benefit is obtained via advanced hydrometallurgical treatment for lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide‐type batteries, mainly because of the recovery of cobalt and nickel. Especially under resource depletion aspects, recycling of these cells can reduce their impact to an extent that even leads to a lower “net impact” than that of cells made from majorly abundant and cheap materials like lithium iron phosphate, which shows a more favorable performance when recycling is disregarded. For these cells, recycling does not necessarily provide benefits but can rather cause additional environmental impacts. This indicates that maximum material recovery might not always be favorable under environmental aspects and that, especially for the final hydrometallurgical treatment, the process would need to be adapted to the specific cell chemistry, if one wants to obtain maximum environmental benefit.

Suggested Citation

  • Marit Mohr & Jens F. Peters & Manuel Baumann & Marcel Weil, 2020. "Toward a cell‐chemistry specific life cycle assessment of lithium‐ion battery recycling processes," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(6), pages 1310-1322, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:24:y:2020:i:6:p:1310-1322
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13021
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dewulf, Jo & Van der Vorst, Geert & Denturck, Kim & Van Langenhove, Herman & Ghyoot, Wouter & Tytgat, Jan & Vandeputte, Kurt, 2010. "Recycling rechargeable lithium ion batteries: Critical analysis of natural resource savings," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 229-234.
    2. Troy R. Hawkins & Bhawna Singh & Guillaume Majeau‐Bettez & Anders Hammer Strømman, 2013. "Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(1), pages 53-64, February.
    3. Rebecca E. Ciez & J. F. Whitacre, 2019. "Examining different recycling processes for lithium-ion batteries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(2), pages 148-156, February.
    4. Peters, Jens F. & Baumann, Manuel & Zimmermann, Benedikt & Braun, Jessica & Weil, Marcel, 2017. "The environmental impact of Li-Ion batteries and the role of key parameters – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 491-506.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gutsch, Moritz & Leker, Jens, 2024. "Costs, carbon footprint, and environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries – From cathode active material synthesis to cell manufacturing and recycling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    2. Xia, Xiaoning & Li, Pengwei & Cheng, Yang, 2023. "Tripartite evolutionary game analysis of power battery carbon footprint disclosure under the EU battery regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    3. Picatoste, Aitor & Justel, Daniel & Mendoza, Joan Manuel F., 2022. "Circularity and life cycle environmental impact assessment of batteries for electric vehicles: Industrial challenges, best practices and research guidelines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    4. Chen, Quanwei & Lai, Xin & Chen, Junjie & Huang, Yunfeng & Guo, Yi & Wang, Yanan & Han, Xuebing & Lu, Languang & Sun, Yuedong & Ouyang, Minggao & Zheng, Yuejiu, 2024. "A critical comparison of LCA calculation models for the power lithium-ion battery in electric vehicles during use-phase," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    5. Peiseler, Leopold & Cabrera Serrenho, André, 2022. "How can current German and EU policies be improved to enhance the reduction of CO2 emissions of road transport? Revising policies on electric vehicles informed by stakeholder and technical assessments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Picatoste, Aitor & Justel, Daniel & Mendoza, Joan Manuel F., 2022. "Circularity and life cycle environmental impact assessment of batteries for electric vehicles: Industrial challenges, best practices and research guidelines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Ren, Zhijun & Li, Huajie & Yan, Wenyi & Lv, Weiguang & Zhang, Guangming & Lv, Longyi & Sun, Li & Sun, Zhi & Gao, Wenfang, 2023. "Comprehensive evaluation on production and recycling of lithium-ion batteries: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    3. Desreveaux, A. & Bouscayrol, A. & Trigui, R. & Hittinger, E. & Castex, E. & Sirbu, G.M., 2023. "Accurate energy consumption for comparison of climate change impact of thermal and electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Nenming Wang & Guwen Tang, 2022. "A Review on Environmental Efficiency Evaluation of New Energy Vehicles Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-35, March.
    5. Huang, Hai-chao & He, Hong-di & Peng, Zhong-ren, 2024. "Urban-scale estimation model of carbon emissions for ride-hailing electric vehicles during operational phase," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    6. Gutsch, Moritz & Leker, Jens, 2024. "Costs, carbon footprint, and environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries – From cathode active material synthesis to cell manufacturing and recycling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    7. Lybbert, M. & Ghaemi, Z. & Balaji, A.K. & Warren, R., 2021. "Integrating life cycle assessment and electrochemical modeling to study the effects of cell design and operating conditions on the environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. Christensen, Paul A. & Anderson, Paul A. & Harper, Gavin D.J. & Lambert, Simon M. & Mrozik, Wojciech & Rajaeifar, Mohammad Ali & Wise, Malcolm S. & Heidrich, Oliver, 2021. "Risk management over the life cycle of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. Oda, Hiromu & Noguchi, Hiroki & Fuse, Masaaki, 2022. "Review of life cycle assessment for automobiles: A meta-analysis-based approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    10. Kain Glensor & María Rosa Muñoz B., 2019. "Life-Cycle Assessment of Brazilian Transport Biofuel and Electrification Pathways," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-31, November.
    11. Shafique, Muhammad & Azam, Anam & Rafiq, Muhammad & Luo, Xiaowei, 2022. "Life cycle assessment of electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles: A case study of Hong Kong," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Michael Samsu Koroma & Nils Brown & Giuseppe Cardellini & Maarten Messagie, 2020. "Prospective Environmental Impacts of Passenger Cars under Different Energy and Steel Production Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    13. Kristoffer W. Lie & Trym A. Synnevåg & Jacob J. Lamb & Kristian M. Lien, 2021. "The Carbon Footprint of Electrified City Buses: A Case Study in Trondheim, Norway," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-21, February.
    14. Koh, S.C.L. & Smith, L. & Miah, J. & Astudillo, D. & Eufrasio, R.M. & Gladwin, D. & Brown, S. & Stone, D., 2021. "Higher 2nd life Lithium Titanate battery content in hybrid energy storage systems lowers environmental-economic impact and balances eco-efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    15. Soares, N. & Martins, A.G. & Carvalho, A.L. & Caldeira, C. & Du, C. & Castanheira, É. & Rodrigues, E. & Oliveira, G. & Pereira, G.I. & Bastos, J. & Ferreira, J.P. & Ribeiro, L.A. & Figueiredo, N.C. & , 2018. "The challenging paradigm of interrelated energy systems towards a more sustainable future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 171-193.
    16. Daniele Stampatori & Pier Paolo Raimondi & Michel Noussan, 2020. "Li-Ion Batteries: A Review of a Key Technology for Transport Decarbonization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, May.
    17. Idiano D’Adamo & Paolo Rosa, 2019. "A Structured Literature Review on Obsolete Electric Vehicles Management Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Jie Yang & Fu Gu & Jianfeng Guo & Bin Chen, 2019. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Mobile Power Banks with Lithium-Ion Battery and Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-24, September.
    19. Silje Nornes Bryntesen & Anders Hammer Strømman & Ignat Tolstorebrov & Paul R. Shearing & Jacob J. Lamb & Odne Stokke Burheim, 2021. "Opportunities for the State-of-the-Art Production of LIB Electrodes—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-41, March.
    20. Peiseler, Leopold & Cabrera Serrenho, André, 2022. "How can current German and EU policies be improved to enhance the reduction of CO2 emissions of road transport? Revising policies on electric vehicles informed by stakeholder and technical assessments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:24:y:2020:i:6:p:1310-1322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.