A bottom-up method to analyze the environmental and economic impacts of recycling lithium-ion batteries with different cathode chemistries

Lithium-ion batteries have recently gained much attention with the increasing production and marketing of electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. Rapid growth in the electric vehicle industry has led to an increase in used batteries. The improper disposal of these spent lithium-ion batteries will result in environmental pollution and waste of resources as these batteries contain hazardous materials. Therefore, it is crucial to handle their disposal responsibly and adopting appropriate recycling practices to mitigate potential harm. Hence, attention has been paid to recycling spent EV batteries. Motivated by these concerns, this article examines the current state of EV battery recycling by analyzing the three recycling processes for effectively recovering materials from spent batteries, along with their environmental and economic implications. Several methods are available for battery recycling, and each method has a different impact on emissions and economic factors, which may vary depending on the battery chemistry. This study analyzes the emissions and costs of recycling lithium-ion batteries by pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and direct recycling processes with seven well-known cathode chemistries. The specific cost parameters are chosen for battery recycling to analyze the recycling cost. Process emissions from both material combustion and material decomposition are considered to examine the environmental impacts. Cost-effectiveness analysis has been used for economic analysis. This study incorporates secondary data from the Everbatt model developed by Argonne National Laboratory, and therefore, some firms in various countries might need modifications. The results show that direct recycling is more profitable and produces fewer emissions than the other two processes. In addition, the LCO battery has the lowest disassembly cost and generates the highest revenue than any other battery. A detailed cost analysis for each recycling process and a chart comparing the cost of recycling and emissions of each process have been provided. Finally, a comparison of profit percentages, sensitivity analysis, and conclusions are presented to assist recyclers in making decisions according to their recycling capacity, prices of raw materials, cathode chemistry of EV batteries, and emissions regulations.