Electrochemical leaching of critical materials from lithium-ion batteries: A comparative life cycle assessment

•Electrochemical leaching (ECL) is a promising method to recycle lithium-ion batteries.•ECL uses less aggressive chemicals than peroxide-based leaching and SO2-based leaching.•ECL is 80+% better than peroxide-based leaching in global warming potential. The manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries (LIB...

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Published in:Resources, conservation and recycling conservation and recycling, 2023-06, Vol.193 (-), p.106973, Article 106973
Main Authors: Adhikari, Birendra, Chowdhury, Nighat A., Diaz, Luis A., Jin, Hongyue, Saha, Apurba K., Shi, Meng, Klaehn, John R., Lister, Tedd E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Circular economy
Environmental impact
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Peroxide-based leaching
SO2 leaching
Value recovery
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Summary:•Electrochemical leaching (ECL) is a promising method to recycle lithium-ion batteries.•ECL uses less aggressive chemicals than peroxide-based leaching and SO2-based leaching.•ECL is 80+% better than peroxide-based leaching in global warming potential. The manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) requires critical materials such as cobalt (Co) and lithium (Li) that are essential for clean-energy products including electric vehicles. Because of their rapidly increasing demand and limited supply, the recycle and reuse of these materials from end-of-life LIB have garnered a lot of interest. Electrochemical leaching has emerged as a sustainable method to extract critical materials out of LIB, so life cycle assessment was conducted to compare the environmental impacts with traditional peroxide-based leaching and another emerging technology – SO2-based leaching. The results showed that electrochemical leaching reduces the global warming potential (GWP) by 80%−87% compared to peroxide-based leaching due to a lower acid consumption, avoidance of hydrogen peroxide, and regeneration of reducing agent iron (II) sulfate and compares well with SO2-based leaching in most impact categories. The analysis suggested renewable energy can further reduce the environment footprint of electrochemical leaching. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0921-3449
1879-0658
DOI:10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106973