What is the green recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries?

The green recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries requires the innovation and the improvement of existing technologies. What's more, it is inseparable from the support of policies and management.

Why do we recycle lithium-ion batteries?

Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted significant attention in recent years due to the increasing demand for corresponding crit. metals/materials and growing pressure on the environmental impact of solid waste disposal.

Are there technical bottlenecks in lithium-ion battery recycling?

However, it is still a pity that the values of the recovered product fall short of expectations in many cases. Therefore, several technical bottlenecks related to lithium-ion battery recycling need to be broken, such as the improvement of recovery rate, the efficient removal of impurities and harmless treatment of pollutants.

What happens if lithium ion batteries are not recycled?

If they are not recycled or reused at the end of life, millions of tons of spent lithium-ion batteries will be generated, causing serious environmental pollution and huge waste of resources (Chen et al., 2019b). LIBs rely on critical mineral commodities, particularly cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese and nickel.

Will lithium ion batteries be repurposed?

In addn., lithium consumption has increased by 18% from 2018 to 2019, and it can be predicted that the depletion of lithium is imminent with limited lithium reserves. This has led to the development of technologies to recycle lithium from lithium-ion batteries.

Are lithium ion batteries recyclable?

The complexity of lithium ion batteries with varying active and inactive material chemistries interferes with the desire to establish one robust recycling procedure for all kinds of lithium ion batteries. Therefore, the current state of the art needs to be analyzed, improved, and adapted for the coming cell chemistries and components.