Potential use of geothermal energy sources for the production of lithium-ion batteries

Gudrun Saevarsdottir, Pai-chun Tao, Hlynur Stefansson and William Harvey

Renewable Energy, 2014, vol. 61, issue C, 17-22

Abstract: The lithium-ion battery is one of the most promising technologies for energy storage in many recent and emerging applications. However, the cost of lithium-ion batteries limits their penetration in the public market. Energy input is a significant cost driver for lithium batteries due to both the electrical and thermal energy required in the production process. The drying process requires 45–57% of the energy consumption of the production process according to a model presented in this paper. The model is used as a base for quantifying the energy and temperatures at each step, as replacing electric energy with thermal energy is considered. In Iceland, it is possible to use geothermal steam as a thermal resource in the drying process. The most feasible type of dryer and heating method for lithium batteries would be a tray dryer (batch) using a conduction heating method under vacuum operation. Replacing conventional heat sources with heat from geothermal steam in Iceland, we can lower the energy cost to 0.008USD/Ah from 0.13USD/Ah based on average European energy prices. The energy expenditure after 15 years operation could be close to 2% of total expenditure using this renewable resource, down from 12 to 15% in other European countries. According to our profitability model, the internal rate of return of this project will increase from 11% to 23% by replacing the energy source. The impact on carbon emissions amounts to 393.4–215.1 g/Ah lower releases of CO2 per year, which is only 2–5% of carbon emissions related to battery production using traditional energy sources.

Keywords: Lithium-ion battery; Geothermal energy; Energy cost; Carbon emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:17-22

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.04.028

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