Tighten the loop – Potential for reduction of environmental impacts by direct recycling of battery production waste

With increasing demand for batteries, the amount of battery production waste rises. Due to the high value, purity and embodied energy of the materials found in the electrode production waste, direct recycling integrated into the process chain has been identified as a strategy to consistently reduce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProcedia CIRP Vol. 116; pp. 65 - 70
Main Authors Lefherz, Hannes, Dilger, Nikolas, Melzig, Sebastian, Cerdas, Felipe, Zellmer, Sabrina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 2023
Subjects
Battery production
Closed Loop Recycling
Direct Recycling
Life Cycle Assessment
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Production Waste
Sustainability
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Closed Loop Recycling
Production Waste
Life Cycle Assessment
Sustainability
Direct Recycling
Battery production
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Summary:With increasing demand for batteries, the amount of battery production waste rises. Due to the high value, purity and embodied energy of the materials found in the electrode production waste, direct recycling integrated into the process chain has been identified as a strategy to consistently reduce the environmental impacts of the battery cell manufacturing industry. The potential for reducing environmental impacts depends on the process route and its characteristics, e.g. its recovery rates and energy and material intensity. To recover electrode materials efficiently, a direct recycling process can be used, targeting the immediate reuse of the coating materials for the production of new electrodes. Anodes and cathodes are comminuted to decoat the electrode. After a separation process, the segregated black mass can be reused in electrode production. In this paper, the potential to reduce environmental impacts by closed loop recycling was examined. Energy and mass flow models for an environmental assessment are developed based on lab and literature data. Furthermore, the benefit of direct recycling was evaluated by comparing its environmental footprint with a different battery recycling process (e.g. LithoRec). Direct recycling integrated into the factory system will allow for a more sustainable and circular production of battery cells.
ISSN:2212-8271
2212-8271
DOI:10.1016/j.procir.2023.02.012