Sustainability Analysis of Processes to Recycle Discharged Lithium-Ion Batteries, Based on the ESCAPE Approach

Ario Fahimi; Alessandra Zanoletti; Antonella Cornelio; Elsayed Mousa; Guozhu Ye; Patrizia Frontera; Laura Eleonora Depero; Elza Bontempi

doi:10.3390/ma15238527

Sustainability Analysis of Processes to Recycle Discharged Lithium-Ion Batteries, Based on the ESCAPE Approach

Materials (Basel). 2022 Nov 30;15(23):8527. doi: 10.3390/ma15238527.

Authors

Ario Fahimi¹, Alessandra Zanoletti¹, Antonella Cornelio¹, Elsayed Mousa^{2

3}, Guozhu Ye², Patrizia Frontera⁴, Laura Eleonora Depero¹, Elza Bontempi¹

Affiliations

¹ INSTM and Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123 Brescia, Italy.
² SWERIM AB, Aronstorpsvägen 1, SE-97437 Luleå, Sweden.
³ Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Cairo 12422, Egypt.
⁴ INSTM and Department of Civil, Energy, Environmental and Material Engineering (DICEAM), University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Via Graziella Loc. Feo di Vito, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Abstract

There are several recycling methods to treat discharged lithium-ion batteries, mostly based on pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical approaches. Some of them are promising, showing high recovery efficiency (over 90%) of strategic metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. However, technological efficiency must also consider the processes sustainability in terms of environmental impact. In this study, some recycling processes of spent lithium-ion batteries were considered, and their sustainability was evaluated based on the ESCAPE "Evaluation of Sustainability of material substitution using CArbon footPrint by a simplifiEd approach" approach, which is a screening tool preliminary to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The work specifically focuses on cobalt recovery comparing the sustainability of using inorganic or organic acid for the leaching of waste derived from lithium-ion batteries. Based on the possibility to compare different processes, for the first time, some considerations about technologies optimization have been done, allowing proposing strategies able to save chemicals. In addition, the energy mix of each country, to generate electricity has been considered, showing its influence on the sustainability evaluation. This allows distinguishing the countries using more low-carbon sources (nuclear and renewables) for a share of the electricity mix, where the recycling processes result more sustainable. Finally, this outcome is reflected by another indicator, the eco-cost from the virtual pollution model 99' proposed by Vogtländer, which integrates the monetary estimation of carbon footprint.

Keywords: ESCAPE; carbon footprint; embodied energy; lithium-ion batteries.

Grants and funding

CUP: J11B18000470005/ERA-MIN2 program (2018), the European Commission and the respective national financier to "Novel Circular Economic Approaches for Efficient Extraction of Valuables from Spent Li-Ion Batteries (NEXT-LIB)