This paper emphasises the battery raw material supply chain challenges from a mineral extraction perspective. Available mineral resources, constraints in production capacities, and timelines for extraction rate ramp-up to meet growing metal demand will be explored from a bottom-up approach.
Understanding constraints within the raw battery material supply chain is essential for making informed decisions that will ensure the battery industry’s future success. The primary limiting factor for long-term mass production of batteries is mineral extraction constraints.
Analysts and researchers across various organisations have explored the battery supply chain in its ability to supply critical raw materials and manufacture LIB packs. One source is the International Energy Agency (IEA), which provides a yearly update on BEV and LIB market trends.
This paper identifies available strategies to decarbonize the supply chain of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, cobalt sulfate, nickel sulfate, natural graphite, and synthetic graphite, assessing their mitigation potential and highlighting techno-economic challenges.
... Framed as a supply chain, research on battery production also engages with potential geopolitical issues arising from bottlenecks in supply and import dependence around 'critical' raw materials [59,113, .
Wang et al. used mechanical crushing and size separation to recover cathode materials from waste lithium-ion batteries, including LiCoO 2, LiFePO 4, LiMn 2 O 4, and mixed-metal cathode LIBs.