Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-ion Batteries

• Author / Creator

  Vinayak, . Anil Kumar

• The exponential rise in demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in applications that include grid-level energy storage systems, portable electronic devices and electric vehicles, has led to logistical, and environmental challenges in the supply of raw materials required for its production and the management of end-of-life batteries. Lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite are some of the raw materials critical to the production of LIBs and the primary source of these materials is mining operations which pose a multitude of environmental concerns as well as human rights concerns. Therefore, supplementing the supply chain of these raw materials via recycling from spent LIB can mitigate the above challenges to a certain degree while simultaneously providing a route for waste management in keeping with the principles of a circular economy. Hydro- and pyro-metallurgical techniques which are an extrapolation of extractive metallurgical methods are commercially employed presently to recycle the components of lithium-ion batteries in industrial scale. These conventional techniques currently employed for recycling LIBs are marred by environmental concerns due to their dependence on high temperatures and strong acids. These energy-intensive methods are known to produce harmful emissions and thus lack environmental friendliness. Moreover, the low purity of the recovered materials and low yields of the recovered metals render them inefficient. Given the exponential demand for LIBs and the resultant pressure on the environment, more sustainable and efficient recycling techniques are necessary to alleviate these environmental concerns and meet the needs of a growing market.
  The first chapter of this thesis presents a literature review of the existing pre-treatment and recycling strategies employed for end-of-life batteries and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Additionally, the recent trends and progress in the domain are explored. The second chapter introduces the experimental work, results and discussion on the green approach designed to effectively and sustainably recycle the active materials in the electrode of a commercial spent LIB. Chapter 3 of this work details a partially successful attempt to directly regenerate spent NCM622 cathode material through the application of molten salt relithiation followed by hydrothermal treatment. In chapter four, a perspective on circular economies is presented with a focus on the incorporation of its principles for achieving a sustainable lithium-powered future. The challenges that currently hinder the development of a fully-realized circular economy for lithium-ion batteries are also discussed, along with ongoing efforts aimed at overcoming these challenges.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Lithium-ion Battery Recycling
  • Circular Economy

• Graduation date

  Spring 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-8k8q-sq55

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.