Life cycle assessment of secondary use and physical recycling of lithium-ion batteries retired from electric vehicles in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of the global new energy vehicle industry, how to minimize the environmental impact of the recovery has become a common concern and urgent concern. China is a major production and consumption market for electric vehicles, there are no specific and extensive resource and environmental assessment system for batteries. In this paper, the retired Electric vehicles lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) was the research object, and a specific analysis of the recycling treatment and gradual use stages of power batteries were based on life cycle assessment. Different battery assessment scenarios were established according to the development of battery recycling in China. The results showed that the secondary use has the optimal performance compared to the full-component physical, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgy recycling. The results showed that direct recycling has a GWP of 0.037 kg-CO₂ eq·kg LIB^-1, which is lower than others. Secondary use of LIB accounts for the most emission reductions with Global warming (GWP) as 12.134 kg-CO₂ eq·kg LIB^-1. The secondary use has the greatest impact on the assessment results, especially in dynamic scenarios. Through a comprehensive comparison of different recycling technologies, the secondary use, increasing the recycling rate, reducing resource, energy consumption and pollution emissions.

Keywords: Electric vehicles; Environmental impact; Life cycle assessment; Lithium-ion battery; Secondary utilization.