The impacts of recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) go beyond the positive environmental outcomes to support the growing demand of energy storage, reduce foreign dependence for national industries, reset the critical materials supply chains, and re-industrialize and strengthen local economies. While we discuss these topics and their relationships in detail in our new Schneider Electric White Paper 162, Recycling and Circularity of Li-Ion Batteries; here, I comment on the main factors contributing to the successful recycling of LIBs.
Great potential
LIBs are deployed ubiquitously in consumer electronics, stationary energy storage systems, and electric vehicles (EVs). This wide adoption is not only the result of advances in LIB technology, but also from the global decarbonization efforts, as LIBs are a key enabler of other technologies to effectively reduce carbon emissions. LIBs provide energy storage backup for critical applications including in hospitals, manufacturing plants, and data centers. LIBs are also used in microgrids, storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar; and in EVs by replacing internal combustion engines (ICE). Not so ubiquitous is the manufacturing and recycling of LIBs, that Asian countries, namely China, Korea and Japan, have dominated.
Today this participation is being challenged by other players around the globe. This group of conscientious and business-oriented interests are capable of seeing the great potential of these markets.
The continued adoption of LIBs implies large volumes of batteries will regularly reach their end-of-life (retiring) after around 8-15 years of service, depending on their composition and operation conditions. Such large volumes of LIBs can – and must – be cycled through a circular model to maximize the life of the batteries and their benefits, while reducing their environmental impacts.
The full circular economic model of LIBs consists of mining, manufacturing, use (applications), collection (reverse logistics), reuse (2nd and 3rd life), recycling, and finally disposal. The idea is that a minimum amount of materials in these batteries reaches the disposal stage. Instead, it should cycle continuously through the manufacture-use-reuse-recycling-manufacture loop.
Current measures are not sufficient. Strong reverse logistics and recycling systems must be established to realize this potential.
Figure 1. Circular model of the Li-ion battery life cycle. Source: White Paper 162, Recycling and Circularity of Li-ion Batteries.
The importance of recycling LIBs transcends the environmental benefits: it creates additional economic and strategic opportunities. Namely, securing and resetting supply chains of critical materials, reducing foreign dependence, and promoting local re-industrialization and employment generation in all the industrial sectors involved. Governments around the world have identified this potential and are pursuing participation across the LIB manufacturing and recycling supply chains via regulatory and incentive programs. Governments including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are engaging in multisector collaborations involving academic, governmental, and industrial partners to address the technical challenges in recycling technologies and to establish robust reverse logistics systems.
8 success factors
We find 8 factors that can move the needle toward more comprehensive and effective systems. These are:
1. User engagement – Users are the starting point in the recovery of retiring batteries. To maximize recovery rates, users should be aware that batteries are non-disposable and must be returned to the vendors or to battery collection sites. By educating users in how to safely handle and return batteries, as well as incentivizing their participation, erroneous disposal of batteries into the municipal waste is avoided. In turn, this helps prevent the contamination and safety issues associated with chemicals leaching into the soil from waste batteries; and reduces the risk of explosions and fires at landfills and municipal waste system collection and distribution sites.
2. A strong reverse logistics fabric – Systems, systems, systems! Establishing a robust system that facilitates and encourages the participation of all actors is key for a sustainable recycling ecosystem. From the users to the recycling facilities, all the tasks associated with collecting, sorting, distributing, and transporting of retired LIBs are part of reverse logistics. By clarifying the role of all the actors in this system, their participation and success of recycling is facilitated.
The manufacturers and vendors are the starting point in knitting this fabric. They can establish clear mechanisms for users to return used batteries; and long-term partnerships with collectors, battery reuse/repurposing companies, and recyclers. Manufacturers and vendors properly labeling Li-ion batteries make a significant contribution to their safe handling.
Collectors (at retail shops and other modalities) should train their employees in safe handling practices, sorting (according to labeling), storing and accumulation limits, as well as proper packaging for shipping/transportation of batteries. While these tasks are critical for safety, they may seem overwhelming for users who may be discouraged by lengthy or detailed procedures. Transferring these tasks to the collectors may be the way to address this issue, as it is in the interest of collectors and transporters to maintain safety in their operations.
3. Distributed and specialized location of recycling facilities – An efficient recovery system requires a distributed network of recycling facilities processing waste batteries into black mass. To clarify, black mass is a combination of the active materials recovered after an initial shredding and bulk separation of waste batteries. It is the precursor for the materials latter used in battery manufacturing. Recycling methods transform black mass into these materials using hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, electro-hydraulic extraction, or a combination of methods.
Separating the stages of recycling as bulk recycling (yielding black mass) and specialized recycling (yielding the active material precursors) improves safety and increases profit potential. Separation also reduces transportation costs since black mass poses a lower transportation risk compared to waste batteries. Additionally, black mass can be traded as an intermediate product without going through further refinement, increasing the versatility in the business models.
Recycling facilities with the capacity of refining black mass are known as hubs. They receive their materials from spokes, where black mass is produced through the initial bulk recycling stages. The strategic location of these is also important because spokes can serve as intermediate collection sites. Spokes act as distributed feeders, whereas hubs are centralized to serve multiple spokes. Similarly, locations for LIB manufacturing facilities should consider the hub/spokes distribution, as scrap from LIB fabrication processes also feed into the recycling stream.
4. Clear policies and regulations, and feedback mechanisms – Clear policies and regulations help all sectors add definition to their business model and provide focus on value and high quality. They set acceptable standards for operation and legal responsibilities. These assist robust and sustainable systems, increasing the profit potential and business survivability by early identifying potential issues and hidden costs.
At the same time, the impact and effectiveness of such policies should be continuously evaluated. Continuous feedback allows regulations to stay current with the issues in the field, and deliver safe, sustainable, and profitable recycling systems.
5. Value proposition – It may seem obvious, but it is necessary to clearly define the benefits and advantages for all business sectors involved in recycling, including the users. These benefits can be tangible or intangible. For example, users will benefit from reduced risk of household fires by returning used LIBs, and they may receive incentives such as rebates or discounts on new LIB equipment.
For other sectors involved, the benefits could encompass:
- improvements in the commercial value for their services/products
- better trade value for retired batteries for reuse or recycling
- increased long-term partnership opportunities
- incentives including tax credits
- increased scores in sustainable qualifications/certifications
- improved corporate image
6. Cutting edge technology – Two paths exist to improving the battery ecosystem – convenience and innovation. Pursuing either requires continuous research and cutting edge technology. Research benefits all areas of the system, from the battery design and manufacturing for easy disassembly and recycling; to the reverse logistics processes with reliable tracking and information systems, and safe practices; to the refurbishment and recycling processes themselves. Research areas that stand out include:
- optimization of materials recovery
- automation of processes to increase productivity and decrease workforce risk of injury and exposure to hazardous substances
- evaluation and adoption of environmentally benign processes to reduce the environmental impacts and amount of recycling by-products
- processing with net-zero water, gas, and particulate emissions to the environment
- direct recycling technologies to by-pass the energy- and resource-intensive conversion of black mass into cathode materials
- fundamental understanding of LIB materials for improved recycling processes and battery performance
7. Critical partnerships – Alliances across different industrial sectors (even beyond the Li-ion value chain) will help expedite the emergence of local recyclers and overcome initial challenges. As an example, consider the difficulty emerging recycling companies face in accessing state-of-the-art recycling equipment. Collaborating with local industrial manufacturers may alleviate this constraint. They not only capitalize on the technology knowledge transfer from experienced manufacturers across industries but help develop new technologies and workforce.
8. Transparency – Systems that foster transparency are critical in today’s business climate. Not only do they increase the accountability and improve the quality of products and services, but they facilitate decision-making processes internally (for the company in their resource use and strategy) and externally for all ecosystem partners. Transparency also increases trust and engagement of all sectors involved.
In the LIB recycling value chain, the adoption of battery passports seeks to improve the safety of LIBs and facilitate their end-of-life processing (reuse/recycling). These passports promote transparency and standardized information-sharing systems. Additional benefits include further standardization of the embedded GHG emissions and therefore clearer accounting; official and current data for monitoring and evaluating end-of-life strategies and outcomes; as well as trade potential of retiring batteries and forecasting of recovered materials.
Status of LIBs recycling
Greatly improved when compared to previous years, the LIB recycling value chain has been gaining momentum; it’s projected to grow and meet the needs of the field. The growing material demand for LIB fabrication can be partially alleviated with recovered materials from retired batteries and manufacturing scrap. Advances in technologies enable the efficient recycling of LIBs, where high material recovery rates are realized by combining traditional and more modern recycling methods, such as mechano-chemical and electro-hydraulic extraction.
Finally, the application of AI technologies to automate processes improves safety and efficiency in early pretreatment tasks of recycling, reducing risks in the workplace. AI is also being applied to improve transparency in the management and trade of recovered materials.
An opportunity to transform the industrial and technology landscape
Countries and companies participating in the recycling value chain of Li-ion batteries have the opportunity to transform the industrial and technology landscape. All the conditions to succeed are present. We are hopeful that we will witness a cohesive and profitable recycling system within the next 5-to-10 years, aided by new technologies and powered by a growing digital and physical infrastructure. This system is backed by government investments and a solid foundation in private industry. It will continue to expand, supporting economic development and job creation. Partners understanding the relevance of recycling and its impacts will benefit the most, while promoting a sustainable development of economies.
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