Assessment of recycling methods and processes for lithium-ion batteries

Chengetai Portia Makwarimba; Minghui Tang; Yaqi Peng; Shengyong Lu; Lingxia Zheng; Zhefei Zhao; Ai-Gang Zhen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104321

Assessment of recycling methods and processes for lithium-ion batteries

iScience. 2022 Apr 28;25(5):104321. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104321. eCollection 2022 May 20.

Authors

Chengetai Portia Makwarimba¹, Minghui Tang¹, Yaqi Peng¹, Shengyong Lu¹, Lingxia Zheng², Zhefei Zhao², Ai-Gang Zhen³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China.
² Department of Applied Chemistry, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, PR China.
³ Zhejiang Tianneng New Materials Co., Ltd., Huzhou 313000, PR China.

Abstract

This review discusses physical, chemical, and direct lithium-ion battery recycling methods to have an outlook on future recovery routes. Physical and chemical processes are employed to treat cathode active materials which are the greatest cost contributor in the production of lithium batteries. Direct recycling processes maintain the original chemical structure and process value of battery materials by recovering and reusing them directly. Mechanical separation is essential to liberate cathode materials that are concentrated in the finer size region. However, currently, the cathode active materials are being concentrated at a cut point that is considerably greater than the actual size found in spent batteries. Effective physical methods reduce the cost of subsequent chemical treatment and thereafter re-lithiation successfully reintroduces lithium into spent cathodes. Some of the current challenges are the difficulty in controlling impurities in recovered products and ensuring that the entire recycling process is more sustainable.

Keywords: Electrochemistry; Energy materials; Energy storage.

Publication types

Review