Sodium-Ion Batteries with Ti 1 Al 1 TiC 1.85 MXene as Negative Electrode: Life Cycle Assessment and Life Critical Resource Use Analysis

Maria Leonor Carvalho, Giulio Mela (), Andrea Temporelli, Elisabetta Brivio and Pierpaolo Girardi
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Maria Leonor Carvalho: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico—RSE S.p.A., Via Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy
Andrea Temporelli: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico—RSE S.p.A., Via Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy
Elisabetta Brivio: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico—RSE S.p.A., Via Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy
Pierpaolo Girardi: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico—RSE S.p.A., Via Rubattino 54, 20134 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Electrochemical storage systems are an enabling solution for the electric system ecological transition, allowing a deeper penetration of nonprogrammable renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar energy. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are state of the art energy storage technology. Nevertheless, LIBs show critical problems linked to their production, especially for what concerns energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and rare raw materials use. Finding alternative storage technologies seems crucial for support energy transition, but at the same time, it is important to study their sustainability from the very beginning of their technological development. Using this framework, this paper presents a life cycle based environmental-economic assessment, comparing Na-ion coin cells (Ti 1 Al 1 TiC 1.85 MXene as anode material) with LIBs. LCA results show that the assessed Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are less environmentally friendly than LIBs, an outcome driven by the SIBs’ lower energy density. However, if results are shown by mass, SIBs can represent potential alternatives to LIBs. On the other hand, the analysis shows that even Na-ions already use less critical resources, both in absolute and in relative values, highlighting the need, at least for the European Union, to find valid alternatives to LIBs if the 2050 decarbonization targets are to be met.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; commodity life cycle costing; sodium-ion batteries; lithium-ion batteries; MXenes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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