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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Wojciech MrozikORCiD, Professor Paul ChristensenORCiD, Dr Simon LambertORCiD, Dr David Greenwood, Dr Prodip DasORCiD, Dr Mohamed Ahmeid, Dr Zoran Milojevic, Professor Oliver Heidrich
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The market dynamics, and their impact on a future circular economy for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), are presented in this roadmap, with safety as an integral consideration throughout the life cycle. At the point of end-of-life, there is a range of potential options – remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Diagnostics play a significant role in evaluating the state of health and condition of batteries, and improvements to diagnostic techniques are evaluated. At present, manual disassembly dominates end-of-life disposal, however, given the volumes of future batteries that are to be anticipated, automated approaches to the dismantling of end-of-life battery packs will be key. The first stage in recycling after the removal of the cells is the initial cell-breaking or opening step. Approaches to this are reviewed, contrasting shredding and cell disassembly as two alternative approaches. Design for recycling is one approach that could assist in easier disassembly of cells, and new approaches to cell design that could enable the circular economy of LIBs are reviewed. After disassembly, subsequent separation of the black mass is performed before further concentration of components. There are a plethora of alternative approaches for recovering materials; this roadmap sets out the future directions for a range of approaches including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, short-loop, direct, and the biological recovery of LIB materials. Furthermore, anode, lithium, electrolyte, binder and plastics recovery are considered in the range of approaches in order to maximise the proportion of materials recovered, minimise waste and point the way towards zero-waste recycling. The life-cycle implications of a circular economy are discussed considering the overall system of LIB recycling, and also directly investigating the different recycling methods. The legal and regulatory perspectives are also considered. Finally, with a view to the future, approaches for next-generation battery chemistries and recycling are evaluated, identifying gaps for research.
Author(s): Harper G, Anderson PA, Kendrick E, Mrozik W, Christensen P, Lambert S, Greenwood D, Das PK, Ahmeid M, Milojevic Z, Du W, Brett DJL, Shearing PR, Rastegarpanah A, Solkin R, Sommerville R, Zorin A, Durham JL, Abbott A, Thompson D, Browning N, Mehdi L, Bahri M, Schnaider-Tontini F, Nicholls D, Stallmeister C, Friedrich B, Sommerfeld M, Driscoll LL, Jarvis A, Giles EC, Slater PR, Echavarri-Bravo V, Maddalena G, Horsfall L, Gaines L, Dai Q, Jethwa SJ, Lipson AL, Leeke GA, Cowell TD, Farthing JG, Mariani G, Smith A, Iqbal Z, Golmohammadzadeh R, Sweeney L, Goodship V, Li Z, Edge JS, Lander L, Nguyen-Tien V, Elliott RJR, Heidrich O, Slattery M, Reed D, Ahuja J, Cavoski A, Lee R, Driscoll E, Baker J, Littlewood PB, Styles I, Mahanty S, Boons F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Physics: Energy
Year: 2023
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Print publication date: 20/02/2023
Online publication date: 09/12/2022
Acceptance date: 09/12/2022
Date deposited: 18/12/2022
ISSN (electronic): 2515-7655
Publisher: IOP Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/acaa57
DOI: 10.1088/2515-7655/acaa57
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