Here we outline and evaluate the current range of approaches to electric-vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling and re-use, and highlight areas for future progress. Processes for dismantling and recycling lithium-ion battery packs from scrap electric vehicles are outlined.
Nat. Chem. 7, 19–29 (2015). Gaines, L. Lithium-ion battery recycling processes: research towards a sustainable course. Sustain. Mater. Technol. 17, e00068 (2018). The net impact of LIB production can be greatly reduced if more materials can be recovered from end-of-life LIBs, in as usable a form as possible.
Direct recycling methods for spent LIBs aim to repair the structural defects and lithium loss of the cathode materials so that they are directly regenerated into new electrodes without decomposition into the separate elements or destroying the original crystal structure [32, 33].
Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Through Secondary Aluminum Production. Energy Technology 2017: Carbon Dioxide Management and Other Technologies Waste Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling in JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation. Materials Processing Fundamentals 2018 J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manag., 17 (2014), pp. 504 - 512, 10.1007/s10163-014-0265-7
Only four states, namely California, Minnesota, New York and Puerto Rico, have also introduced regulations for the collection and recycling of LIBs. [49 - 52] For example, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006 introduced the EPR in California.
Almost every player in European battery recycling is planning to set up several sites for its recycling activities. Information on the capacity of most recycling plants is publicly available. However, as not all plants have the same recycling depth, it is not possible to simply add these capacities together.