Evaluation of the Ecological Benefits of Recycling Multiple Metals from Lithium Battery Saggars Based on Emergy Analysis

Wenbiao Zhang, Zehong Li, Shaopeng Li, Suocheng Dong, Bing Xia and Chunying Wang
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Wenbiao Zhang: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Zehong Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Shaopeng Li: Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Suocheng Dong: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Bing Xia: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Chunying Wang: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: With the rapid development of China’s new energy industry, the use of lithium-ion batteries has increased sharply, and the demand for battery cathode metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese has also increased rapidly. Scrapped ceramic saggars that are used to produce the cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries contain large amounts of nickel, cobalt, and manganese compounds; thus, recycling these saggars has high economic value and ecological significance. In this paper, the emergy method is used to analyze the ecological benefits of the typical Ni–Co-containing saggar recycling process in China. This paper constructs an ecoefficiency evaluation index for industrial systems based on emergy analysis to analyze the recycling of nickel and cobalt saggars. The ecological benefits are analyzed, and the following conclusions are drawn. (1) The Ni–Co-containing saggar recycling production line has good economic and ecological benefits. (2) The process has room for improvement in the energy use efficiency and clean energy use of the crystallization process and the efficiency of chemical use in the cascade separation and purification process. This study also establishes a set of emergy analysis methods and indicator system for the evaluation of the ecological benefit of the recycling industry, which can provide a reference for the evaluation of the eco-economic benefit of similar recycling industry processes.

Keywords: Ni–Co-containing saggars; eco-efficiency; life cycle assessment; recycling industry; metal recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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