New research has revealed that lithium ion waste is already significant & it is predicted to increase as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) grows.
9, a:1:{i:0;s:8:”defaults”;}, belt cleaners, The recycling of lithium ion batteries appears problematic, new research has revealed, suggesting that waste is already significant in this regard and it is predicted to increase as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) grows.
Carried out by the University of Birmingham, the study found that while EVs do provide a solution for helping to slash pollution, more must be done by both industry and the government to come up with a more robust recycling infrastructure in order to address the future’s recycling needs.
In 2017, there were one million electric cars sold and researchers have now calculated that 250,000 tonnes of unprocessed pack waste will be created once these vehicles come to the end of their lives.
A number of key challenges have been identified that policymakers and engineers alike will have to consider.
These include identifying second use applications for batteries at the end of their life, developing quicker repair and recycling methods, improving diagnostics of batteries, packs and cells, optimising design for recycling and coming up with new stabilisation processes to ensure end-of-life batteries can be opened and separated.
Lead author of the paper and Faraday research fellow at the university Dr Gavin Harper said: “The recycling challenge is not straightforward: there is enormous variety in the chemistries, shapes and designs of lithium ion batteries used in EVs. Individual cells are formed into modules, which are then assembled into battery packs.
“To recycle these efficiently, they must be disassembled and the resulting waste streams separated. As well as lithium, these batteries contain a number of other valuable metals, such as cobalt, nickel and manganese, and there is the potential to improve the processes which are currently used to recover these for reuse.”
Interestingly, green energy company Fortum recently discovered a new way of making the majority of EV batteries recyclable, returning metals back into circulation and reducing the need to mine materials like nickel and cobalt, thus resolving the sustainability gap.
Its new solution means that it has been able to increase its recycling rate of EV batteries to 80 per cent, through the use of a low CO2 hydrometallurgical recycling process.
Currently, the recycling rate for batteries is approximately 50 per cent. It involves making the batteries safe for mechanical treatment, with copper, aluminium and plastics separated and then sent off to their own recycling processes.
Materials like nickel, lithium, manganese and cobalt can be recovered from the battery and then reused to produce new ones. The company is now also looking into second-life applications for EV batteries where they’re used in stationary energy storages once no longer fit for their original purpose.
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