Recycling of Lithium Batteries—A Review

Xiaowei Duan, Wenkun Zhu, Zhongkui Ruan, Min Xie, Juan Chen and Xiaohan Ren
Additional contact information
Xiaowei Duan: Institute of Thermal Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Wenkun Zhu: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Zhongkui Ruan: Institute of Thermal Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Min Xie: HE National Engineering Research Center-Power Equipment Company Ltd., Harbin 150028, China
Juan Chen: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Xiaohan Ren: Institute of Thermal Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: With the rapid development of the electric vehicle industry in recent years, the use of lithium batteries is growing rapidly. From 2015 to 2040, the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles could reach 0.33 to 4 million tons. It is predicted that a total of 21 million end-of-life lithium battery packs will be generated between 2015 and 2040. Spent lithium batteries can cause pollution to the soil and seriously threaten the safety and property of people. They contain valuable metals, such as cobalt and lithium, which are nonrenewable resources, and their recycling and treatment have important economic, strategic, and environmental benefits. Estimations show that the weight of spent electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries will reach 500,000 tons in 2020. Methods for safely and effectively recycling lithium batteries to ensure they provide a boost to economic development have been widely investigated. This paper summarizes the recycling technologies for lithium batteries discussed in recent years, such as pyrometallurgy, acid leaching, solvent extraction, electrochemical methods, chlorination technology, ammoniation technology, and combined recycling, and presents some views on the future research direction of lithium batteries.

Keywords: spent cathode material; lithium-ion battery; recycling; pyrometallurgy; hydrometallurgy; biohydrometallurgy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1611/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1611/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:5:p:1611-:d:755490

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().