Rapid growth in the market for electric vehicles is imperative, to meet global targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to improve air quality in urban centres and to meet the needs of consumers, with whom electric vehicles are increasingly popular. However, growing numbers of electric vehicles present a serious waste-management challenge for recyclers at end-of-life. Nevertheless, spent batteries may also present an opportunity as manufacturers require access to strategic elements and critical materials for key components in electric-vehicle manufacture: recycled lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles could provide a valuable secondary source of materials. Here we outline and evaluate the current range of approaches to electric-vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling and re-use, and highlight areas for future progress. Processes for dismantling and recycling lithium-ion battery packs from scrap electric vehicles are outlined.

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Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles

Tremendous efforts are being made to develop electrode materials, electrolytes, and separators for energy storage devices to meet the needs of emerging technologies such as electric vehicles, decarbonized electricity, and electrochemical energy storage. However, the sustainability concerns of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and next-generation rechargeable batteries have received little attention. Recycling plays an important role in the overall sustainability of future batteries and is affected by battery attributes including environmental hazards and the value of their constituent resources. Therefore, recycling should be considered when developing battery systems. Herein, we provide a systematic overview of rechargeable battery sustainability. With a particular focus on electric vehicles, we analyze the market competitiveness of batteries in terms of economy, environment, and policy. Considering the large volumes of batteries soon to be retired, we comprehensively evaluate battery utilization and recycling from the perspectives of economic feasibility, environmental impact, technology, and safety. Battery sustainability is discussed with respect to life-cycle assessment and analyzed from the perspectives of strategic resources and economic demand. Finally, we propose a 4H strategy for battery recycling with the aims of high efficiency, high economic return, high environmental benefit, and high safety. New challenges and future prospects for battery sustainability are also highlighted.

Sustainable Recycling Technology for Li-Ion Batteries and Beyond: Challenges and Future Prospects.

Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted significant attention in recent years due to the increasing demand for corresponding critical metals/materials and growing pressure on the environmental impact of solid waste disposal. A range of investigations have been carried out for recycling spent LIBs to obtain either battery materials or individual compounds. For the effective recovery of materials to be enhanced, physical pretreatment is usually applied to obtain different streams of waste materials ensuring efficient separation for further processing. Subsequently, a metallurgical process is used to extract metals or separate impurities from a specific waste stream so that the recycled materials or compounds can be further prepared by incorporating principles of materials engineering. In this review, the current status of spent LIB recycling is summarized in light of the whole recycling process, especially focusing on the hydrometallurgy. In addition to understanding different hydromet...

A Critical Review and Analysis on the Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications in consumer electronics and electric vehicles are rapidly growing, resulting in boosting resources demand, including cobalt and lithium. So recycling of batteries will be a necessity, not only to decline the consumption of energy, but also to relieve the shortage of rare resources and eliminate the pollution of hazardous components, toward sustainable industries related to consumer electronics and electric vehicles. The authors review the current status of the recycling processes of spent LIBs, introduce the structure and components of the batteries, and summarize all available single contacts in batch mode operation, including pretreatment, secondary treatment, and deep recovery. Additionally, many problems and prospect of the current recycling processes will be presented and analyzed. It is hoped that this effort would stimulate further interest in spent LIBs recycling and in the appreciation of its benefits.

Jeongsoo Sohn

Papers

Recovery of cobalt sulfate from spent lithium ion batteries by reductive leaching and solvent extraction with Cyanex 272

Recycling of spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials by ammoniacal leaching

Preparation of cobalt oxide from concentrated cathode material of spent lithium ion batteries by hydrometallurgical method

Separation of zinc from spent zinc-carbon batteries by selective leaching with sodium hydroxide

Biological treatment of wastewater produced during recycling of spent lithium primary battery