Roadmap for a sustainable circular economy in lithium-ion and future battery technologies

The market dynamics, and their impact on a future circular economy for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), are presented in this roadmap, with safety as an integral consideration throughout the life cycle. At the point of end-of-life (EOL), there is a range of potential options—remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Diagnostics play a significant role in evaluating the state-of-health and condition of batteries, and improvements to diagnostic techniques are evaluated. At present, manual disassembly dominates EOL disposal, however, given the volumes of future batteries that are to be anticipated, automated approaches to the dismantling of EOL battery packs will be key. The first stage in recycling after the removal of the cells is the initial cell-breaking or opening step. Approaches to this are reviewed, contrasting shredding and cell disassembly as two alternative approaches. Design for recycling is one approach that could assist in easier disassembly of cells, and new approaches to cell design that could enable the circular economy of LIBs are reviewed. After disassembly, subsequent separation of the black mass is performed before further concentration of components. There are a plethora of alternative approaches for recovering materials; this roadmap sets out the future directions for a range of approaches including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, short-loop, direct, and the biological recovery of LIB materials. Furthermore, anode, lithium, electrolyte, binder and plastics recovery are considered in order to maximise the proportion of materials recovered, minimise waste and point the way towards zero-waste recycling. The life-cycle implications of a circular economy are discussed considering the overall system of LIB recycling, and also directly investigating the different recycling methods. The legal and regulatory perspectives are also considered. Finally, with a view to the future, approaches for next-generation battery chemistries and recycling are evaluated, identifying gaps for research. This review takes the form of a series of short reviews, with each section written independently by a diverse international authorship of experts on the topic. Collectively, these reviews form a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in LIB recycling, and how these technologies are expected to develop in the future

Phase-selective recovery and regeneration of end-of-life electric vehicle blended cathodes via selective leaching and direct recycling

Large-scale recycling and regeneration of lithium-ion cathode materials is hindered by the complex mixture of chemistries often present in the waste stream. We outline an efficient process for the separation and regeneration of phases within a blended cathode. We demonstrate the efficacy of this approach using cathode material from a first generation 1 (Gen 1) Nissan Leaf end-of-life (40,000 miles) cell. Exploiting the different stabilities of transition metals in acidic media, we demonstrate that ascorbic acid selectively leaches low-value spinel electrode material (LiMn2O4) from mixed cathode electrode (LiMn2O4 /layered Ni-rich oxide) in minutes, allowing both phases to be effectively recovered separately. This process facilitates upcycling of the Li/Mn content from the resultant leachate solution into higher-value LiNixMnyCozO2 (NMC) phases. The remaining nickel-rich layered oxide can be directly regenerated through a hydrothermal hydroxide process, which also decomposes the PVDF binder, thereby avoiding fluorine contamination of the recovered layered oxide. We report electrochemical data for the regenerated layered oxide phase while also showing that the leachate can be upcycled to next generation materials. Furthermore, while literature recycling studies are commonly performed on model systems, we illustrate here the approach on a real end of life EV battery. This study therefore illustrates a process to recycle blended cathodes containing LiMn2O4 spinel and layered Ni-rich oxide phases efficiently, with the potential to be extended to other mixed electrode waste streams. The method has great potential not only for recycling EV battery waste, but also other Li/Na ion battery waste, such as mobile phone batteries, where batteries with different cell chemistries are often be mixed

Research data supporting the publication "Phase-selective recovery and regeneration of end-of-life electric vehicle blended cathodes via selective leaching and direct recycling"

The data deposit includes the following data: electrochemical testing, SEM-EDX, STEM-EDX, SEM-FIB, ICP-OES, XRD (including VT), XRF. All folders contain a text file outlining the files types of the data and the software required to access it. In general terms, the file format is nominally: .txt, .png, .xy, .xlxs, and .jnb. File type .jnb requires Sigmaplot software, while the rest are accessible with the Microsoft suite of programs

Research data supporting the publication "Phase-selective recovery and regeneration of end-of-life electric vehicle blended cathodes via selective leaching and direct recycling"

The data deposit includes the following data: electrochemical testing, SEM-EDX, STEM-EDX, SEM-FIB, ICP-OES, XRD (including VT), XRF. All folders contain a text file outlining the files types of the data and the software required to access it. In general terms, the file format is nominally: .txt, .png, .xy, .xlxs, and .jnb. File type .jnb requires Sigmaplot software, while the rest are accessible with the Microsoft suite of programs

Battery Recycling: Legal and Regulatory

The market dynamics, and their impact on a future circular economy for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), are presented in this roadmap, with safety as an integral consideration throughout the life cycle. At the point of end-of-life (EOL), there is a range of potential options—remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Diagnostics play a significant role in evaluating the state-of-health and condition of batteries, and improvements to diagnostic techniques are evaluated. At present, manual disassembly dominates EOL disposal, however, given the volumes of future batteries that are to be anticipated, automated approaches to the dismantling of EOL battery packs will be key. The first stage in recycling after the removal of the cells is the initial cell-breaking or opening step. Approaches to this are reviewed, contrasting shredding and cell disassembly as two alternative approaches. Design for recycling is one approach that could assist in easier disassembly of cells, and new approaches to cell design that could enable the circular economy of LIBs are reviewed. After disassembly, subsequent separation of the black mass is performed before further concentration of components. There are a plethora of alternative approaches for recovering materials; this roadmap sets out the future directions for a range of approaches including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, short-loop, direct, and the biological recovery of LIB materials. Furthermore, anode, lithium, electrolyte, binder and plastics recovery are considered in order to maximise the proportion of materials recovered, minimise waste and point the way towards zero-waste recycling. The life-cycle implications of a circular economy are discussed considering the overall system of LIB recycling, and also directly investigating the different recycling methods. The legal and regulatory perspectives are also considered. Finally, with a view to the future, approaches for next-generation battery chemistries and recycling are evaluated, identifying gaps for research. This review takes the form of a series of short reviews, with each section written independently by a diverse international authorship of experts on the topic. Collectively, these reviews form a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in LIB recycling, and how these technologies are expected to develop in the future