The Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Process from a Circular Economy Perspective—A Review and Future Directions

Abstract

Ever since the introduction of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in the 1970s, their demand has increased exponentially with their applications in electric vehicles, smartphones, and energy storage systems. To cope with the increase in demand and the ensuing environmental effects of excessive mining activities and waste production, it becomes crucial to explore ways of manufacturing LIBs from the resources that have already been extracted from nature. It is possible by promoting the re-usage, refurbishing, and recycling of the batteries and their constituent components, rethinking the fundamental design of devices using these batteries, and introducing the circular economy model in the battery industry. This paper through a literature review provides the current state of CE adoption in the lithium-ion battery industry. The review suggests that the focus is mostly on recycling at this moment in the battery industry, and a further understanding of the process is needed to better adapt to other CE practices such as reuse, remanufacture, refurbishment, etc. The paper also provides the steps involved in the recycling process and, through secondary case studies, shows how some of the industries are currently approaching battery recycling. Thus, this paper, through review and secondary cases, helps us to understand the current state of LIB recycling and CE adoption.