Environmental impact of recycling spent lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries are used for energy storage and as an energy source in a wide range of applications from small handheld to powering consumer-driven vehicles. With the global change from fuel-based vehicles to electric vehicles and the rise in use of batteries for other functions, it is imperative to start considering industrial-scale recycling of spent batteries to recover the critical components and reduce the ecological footprint generated by untreated disposal of the batteries. The present work was carried with the objective to check the environmental impact of leaching with mild phosphoric acid by using the material and energy flow data obtained from laboratory experiments. Lithium and cobalt were recovered from dead cell phone batteries that were composed of Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) on aluminum foils as cathodes and graphite on copper foils as anodes. The mass and energy flow data from the experiments performed were tabulated and used for the estimation of the environmental impact by executing a Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) using Umberto NXT universal software with ReCiPe (endpoint) method of analysis.