• Energy Research

This study investigates the environmental and economic impacts of end-of-life (EOL) treatment for a 2.8 MWh/2.5 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) based on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It focuses on recycling pre-treatment processes for battery systems and recycling procedures for components like cooling systems, fire extinguishing systems, inverters, and the reuse of BESS containers and substations. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to evaluate key environmental impacts, including climate change, eutrophication, and resource use. The study reveals substantial environmental benefits, particularly from recovering secondary materials like aluminium and copper, with recycling pre-treatment contributing significantly to overall benefits. Additionally, the economic analysis projects profits, emphasizing the advantages of locally sourcing critical raw materials. The research highlights the need for more sustainable recycling practices and provides insights for improving environmental and economic strategies in BESS management, offering guidance for future research and policy development in battery waste processing.

The significant deployment of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) within a wide application field covering small consumer electronics, light and heavy means of transport, such as e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric vehicles (EVs), or energy storage stationary systems will inevitably lead to generating notable amounts of spent batteries in the coming years. Considering the environmental perspective, material resource sustainability, and terms of the circular economy, recycling represents a highly prospective strategy for LIB end-of-life (EOL) management. In contrast with traditional, large-scale, implemented recycling methods, such as pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy, direct recycling technology constitutes a promising solution for LIB EOL treatment with outstanding environmental benefits, including reduction of energy consumption and emission footprint, and weighty economic viability. This work comprehensively assesses the limitations and challenges of state-of-the-art, implemented direct recycling methods for spent LIB cathode and anode material treatment. The introduced approaches include solid-state sintering, electrochemical relithiation in organic and aqueous electrolytes, and ionothermal, solution, and eutectic relithiation methods. Since most direct recycling techniques are still being developed and implemented primarily on a laboratory scale, this review identifies and discusses potential areas for optimization to facilitate forthcoming large-scale industrial implementation.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are crucial for consumer electronics, complex energy storage systems, space applications, and the automotive industry. The increasing requirements for decarbonization and CO2 emissions reduction affect the composition of new production. Thus, the entire automotive sector experiences its turning point; the production capacities of new internal combustion engine vehicles are limited, and the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has continuously increased over the past years. The growing number of new EVs leads to an increasing amount of automotive waste, namely spent LIBs. Recycling appears to be the most suitable solution for lowering EV prices and reducing environmental impacts; however, it is still not a well-established process. This work is the second part of the review collection based on the performed literature survey, where more than 250 publications about “Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries from Electric Vehicles” were divided into five sections: Recycling Processes, Battery Composition, Environmental Impact, Economic Evaluation, and Recycling and Rest. This paper reviews and summarizes 162 publications dedicated to recycling procedures and their environmental or economic perspective. Both reviews cover the techno-environmental economic impacts of recycling spent LIBs from EVs published until 2021.

The last decade has seen a significant increase in electromobility. With this trend, it will be necessary to start dealing with the subsequent recycling and disposal of electric vehicles, including the batteries. Currently, the battery is one of the most expensive components of an electric vehicle, which in part hinders their sufficient competitiveness with the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, the lifetime of a battery for use in an electric vehicle is assumed to be 8–10 years/160,000 km, after which the battery capacity drops to 80% of the initial capacity. However, it transpires that a battery at the end of its life in an electric vehicle does not need to be disposed of immediately, but can be used in other applications wherein the emphasis is not so strictly on an excellent power and capacity capability related to its volume or weight. Thus, reusing batteries can help reduce their cost for use in electric vehicles, increase their utility value, and reduce the environmental impact of batteries. This paper discusses methods for researching battery aging in electric vehicles, testing methods for batteries during the transition from first life to second life, and prospective battery second-life use and its specifics. The main contribution of this perspective article is to provide a comprehensive view of the current state of second-life batteries and an overview of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to use them on a large industrial scale.

During recent years, emissions reduction has been tightened worldwide. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) that can meet emission requirements. The growing number of new EVs increases the consumption of raw materials during production. Simultaneously, the number of used EVs and subsequently retired lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that need to be disposed of is also increasing. According to the current approaches, the recycling process technology appears to be one of the most promising solutions for the End-of-Life (EOL) LIBs—recycling and reusing of waste materials would reduce raw materials production and environmental burden. According to this performed literature review, 263 publications about “Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries from Electric Vehicles” were classified into five sections: Recycling Processes, Battery Composition, Environmental Impact, Economic Evaluation, and Recycling & Rest. The whole work reviews the current-state of publications dedicated to recycling LIBs from EVs in the techno-environmental-economic summary. This paper covers the first part of the review work; it is devoted to the recycling technology processes and points out the main study fields in recycling that were found during this work.

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) has increased the demand for efficient methods to assess the state of health (SoH) of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Accurate and prompt evaluations are essential for safety, battery life extension, and performance optimization. While traditional techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are commonly used to monitor battery degradation, acoustic emission (AE) analysis is emerging as a promising complementary method. AE’s sensitivity to mechanical changes within the battery structure offers significant advantages, including speed and non-destructive assessment, enabling evaluations without disassembly. This capability is particularly beneficial for diagnosing second-life batteries and streamlining decision-making regarding the management of used batteries. Moreover, AE enhances diagnostics by facilitating early detection of potential issues, optimizing maintenance, and improving the reliability and longevity of battery systems. Importantly, AE is a non-destructive technique and belongs to the passive method category, as it does not introduce any external energy into the system but instead detects naturally occurring acoustic signals during the battery’s operation. Integrating AE with other analytical techniques can create a comprehensive tool for continuous battery condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, which is crucial in applications where battery reliability is vital, such as in EVs and energy storage systems. This review not only examines the potential of AE techniques in battery health monitoring but also underscores the need for further research and adoption of these techniques, encouraging the academic community and industry professionals to explore and implement these methods.

This study investigates the environmental and economic impacts of end-of-life (EOL) treatment for a 2.8 MWh/2.5 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) based on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It focuses on recycling pre-treatment processes for battery systems and recycling procedures for components like cooling systems, fire extinguishing systems, inverters, and the reuse of BESS containers and substations. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to evaluate key environmental impacts, including climate change, eutrophication, and resource use. The study reveals substantial environmental benefits, particularly from recovering secondary materials like aluminium and copper, with recycling pre-treatment contributing significantly to overall benefits. Additionally, the economic analysis projects profits, emphasizing the advantages of locally sourcing critical raw materials. The research highlights the need for more sustainable recycling practices and provides insights for improving environmental and economic strategies in BESS management, offering guidance for future research and policy development in battery waste processing.