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

Abstract

In spite of their success, recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) is still inan early stage. This is reflected by the limited amount of publications onthe potential environmental benefits of LIB recycling. These focus onevaluating individual recycling processes for a single cell type or ageneric mix of waste batteries, and little information is available aboutthe difference between individual LIB chemistries in terms of recyclabilityand corresponding environmental benefits.Based on a review of existing LCA studies on LIB recycling, we developparametrized models of different recycling processes for their applicationto different cell chemistries, complemented by primary data obtainedfrom a recycling company. These are used for assessing recyclingpathways of different cell chemistries, including beyond-lithium batterieslike sodium-ion (SIB).Depending on the cell chemistry, recycling can reduce the potentialenvironmental impacts of battery production significantly. Hghest benefitis obtained via advanced hydrometallurgical treatment for NCM- andNCA-type batteries. Especially under resource depletion aspects,recycling of these cells can reduce their impact to an extent that evenleads to a lower "net impact" than that of cells made from majorlyabundant materials like LFP or SIB, which show a more favourableperformance when disregarding recycling. For these cells, recycling caneven cause additional environmental impacts. Thus, maximum materialrecovery might not always be favourable under environmental aspects and that especially for the final hydrometallurgical treatment, theprocess would need to be adapted to the specific cell chemistry, ifmaximum environmental benefit wants to be obtained.