Lithium battery recycling achievable by depleting the environment

It is well known that lithium batteries have a certain life span and must be properly recycled so as not to cause environmental pollution. Especially the huge consumption of lithium batteries used in electric vehicles, if not properly recycled, the damage to the environment will be incalculable. Therefore, it is urgently needed to stimulate new business models of lithium battery reuse and recycling, as well as policy drivers to increase recycling. That is to say, at the government and enterprise levels, a more active circular economy model needs to be formulated to be able to cope with the current and future resource challenges in the entire supply chain.

Although it may not be a big problem to intensively acquire waste car batteries, it is still quite difficult to execute fully. For example, old cars are transported to developing countries for reuse, which has always been the norm for car supply, and of course it also applies to lithium batteries. According to the survey, nearly 20% of the 400,000 Leaf electric vehicles produced by Nissan Motor before the end of 2018 were shipped to Ukraine, Russia, Jordan, and Sri Lanka. The recycling of used batteries in these areas is simply a matter of hope.

Each car factory may have different lithium battery recycling and processing technologies and procedures. Here, let’s take the information published by Volkswagen’s lithium battery recycling plant opened in early 2021 as an example. The first step is to fully charge the battery and confirm the health of the battery. If it works, it can be used for storage of other low-power devices. Then disassemble the aluminum frame, copper wire and most of the plastic parts of the shell, and then make new materials. The remaining modules are pressed and cut, and the electrolyte and rare metals of the battery core become mixed debris piles. After multiple air drying, mesh sieving and magnetic suction, they become black powder, which is sent to a third-party manufacturer for processing. Liquid metal dissociates, and these rare metals are separated through water and other solvents, which can become the source of raw materials for new batteries.

Volkswagen's current recycling technology can only retrieve 70% of the raw materials, and it may increase to 90% in the future. According to statistics, in 2020, there will be as many as 100,000 tons of discarded batteries worldwide; it is estimated that in 2040, the annual battery scrap will be 7.8 million tons. Even if the recycling rate can reach the ideal state, recycling still requires huge transportation and processing procedures, as well as the consumption of huge hydropower resources, but it cannot guarantee 100% pollution-free.


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