RECYCLING OF LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

Oier Apaolaza, Julen Arruti, Julen Zubiaga

Keywords: lithium-ion batteries, recycling process, LIBs

Abstract: In this article is going to be analysed the recycling process of current lithium-ion. It
introduced the structure and components of the lithium-ion batteries, but also evaluated the actual
dismantling complexity due to the assemble done in the fabrication. The circular economy and
the end of life for the LIBs are described in this paper. Besides, description of the production of
the lithium nowadays is done, clarifying its benefits but also the weakness and threats using a
SWOT matrix. The hydrometallurgical recycling process is explained, combined with the
innovative high intensity ultrasonication process. After explaining the recycling process, it is proposed
an application with the recycled materials. Finally, some conclusions and proposals on manufacturing
and recycling have been presented.

Key words: Lithium, Li-Ion secondary battery (LIBS), waste treatment, lifecycle, circular economy,
hydrometallurgy.

1. Introduction
In the last years, research and technologies that aim to fight climate change have been carried out.
In order to reduce carbon emissions produced by combustion cars, nowadays several car models
have been developed such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), hybrid vehicles (HV) and
electric vehicles (EV). These means of transport require electric energy power storage systems to
have certain level of autonomy. Among those storage devices, Li-Ion secondary batteries (LIBS)
are one of the most appropriate ones due to their high energetic density (between 250 and 300
Wh/kg) and charge cycles (around 20000 cycles). It is expected that these vehicles will eventually
substitute conventional cars, and most fossil fuel powered means of transport, which will suppose
a remarkable increase not only in the demand and production of Li-Ion secondary batteries (LIBS)
but also the waste produced by them once they have ended their useful life. Furthermore, lithium
(Li) is nowadays considered one of the critical raw materials according to the Critical Raw
Material Alliance (CRMA) [ https://www.crmalliance.eu/lithium ] and the increasing production
of LIBS may also increase this material’s supply shortage. In fact, it is expected that Lithium
demand will increase to up to 2000 metric tonnes of lithium by 2030, as it can be observed in the
graphic [Figure] below. It is also worth to mention that secondary supply will become one of the
main lithium sources for the industry.

1
 Figure X.
Graphic 1: Lithium Demand vs Lithium Demand
Supply Forecast, vs Supply
obtained Forecast Minerals.
from Benchmark

Li-Ion cells consist of several components such as a cathode (aluminium and cobalt), an anode
(copper), Lithium Peroxide (Li(OH)), natural graphite, polymer isolator and liquid or solid
electrolyte as is shown on the picture () below. All these components work together to provide
electric power to electric and electronic devices for a certain amount of time and are able to be
re-charged up to 20000 cycles. This energy supply current is achieved by making Li+ ions pass
through the solid or liquid electrolyte while the electrons travel from the cathode to the anode.
Once it is discharged, electric power is employed to move the Li+ ions back to the lithium-metal
oxide. In order to isolate the dangerous materials within, the cells also have polymer layers that
isolate and separate the different materials.

Figure 1: Scherm of Lithium-Ion Battery's different components.

Figure X. Lithium-ion batteries components

2
Those cells are later wired and packed with the controller modules inside a metal case that hold,
cool and protect them. Nevertheless, electric automobility industry is considering substituting
them with polymer in order to enlighten them and reduce their cost [
https://www.hibridosyelectricos.com/articulo/tecnologia/carcasas-baterias-plasticas-metalicas-
aligerar-peso-coches-electricos/20200918211528038238.html ].
Every country has defined spent LIBS as hazardous waste. If they are not properly treated, they
can end up causing serious harm to human’s health and environment. However, spent LIBS can
contain valuable metals such as Co (5-25 wt.%), Li (5-7 wt.%) and so on. Furthermore, automated
battery production processes nowadays suffer from a very low-quality rate, being forced to dump
up to 39% of the produced batteries. Therefore, recycling Li-ion batteries can result in a source
of valuable materials and an economic income that could turn the necessity of recycling LIBS
into an economically profitable activity.
To sum up, recycling LIBS is essential not only from an environmental conservation point of
view but also as a way of recovering value metals. Nevertheless, it is necessary to develop an
effective spent LIBS collection system, that gathers all consumed batteries around the world.

1.1. Circular economy

The circular economy is a model focused on the reuse of resources and the reduction of raw
materials. All manufacturing processes involve an environmental cost, at the production and the
end of their life cycle. To minimize these effects the circular economy bet on the optimization of
materials and waste, extending its useful life. In conclusion these method moves away from the
classic linear system of ‘use and pull’ and opts for another environmentally friendly circular
process, based on prevention, reuse, repair and recycling. This model extends the life of products
and gives them a second life.

Figure 2: Circular economy of the lithium-ion batteries

3
First the raw materials are extracted by the suppliers and are transported to the manufactures
where LIB batteries are fabricated. These batteries are transported to car, phone, laptop…
companies where they are used as a component to form the final product. These products are sold
to the final user and, when the batteries lose their properties and cannot achieve the required
performance, these are collected and sent to an authorized LIB recycling centre. The products
must be disassembled due to the variety of different materials composing them, each material has
its unique recycling process. With the extracted battery we must proceed to disassemble it. The
battery packs are formed by modules formed by battery cells. These cells consist at anode,
cathode, separator, and electrolyte. In fact, up to 39% of the manufactured cells are defective,
having to dump or dismantle them as soon as they produced. So, to reintroduce these waste
materials to the circular scheme they must follow a specific process. The recycling process is
going to be analysed in the next segment see [1.2.].
Europe has a long-term vision for a climate-neutral economy by 2050, to achieve this
electrification is one of the main technological strategies to reach a neutral carbon balance.
Batteries will be one of the key resources in this transition, stabilising the electrical network as
well as enabling clean mobility
Currently, the European share of cell manufacturing worldwide is only 3%, while Asia has a share
of 85%. Moving towards clean mobility will accelerate demand for battery-powered electric
vehicles so if no action is taken to support the creation of a viable battery manufacturing sector,
there is a risk that Europe will fall behind its competitors in the global battery market and depend
on the import of battery cells and raw materials used in the supply chain.
Transport in general and the automotive sector will dominate the growth of demand for battery
cells in the medium term, as is already the case at present, which will have a key influence on cost
reduction thanks to major economies of scale. Today, there are more than four million electric
vehicles in circulation worldwide. This number is expected to rise to between 50 million and 200
million by 2028.

4
1.2. End-of-Life (EoL) product description
Recycling of end-of-life (EOL) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential to resolve resource issues
and learn how to manage with the waste streams of the LIBs. Nowadays, there are two main
options that can be done independently or a combination of thereof. This commercial LIB
recycling processes are known as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. As the aim of the process
is to recovery the LIB materials, such as lithium, graphite, and aluminium, but also to use the
lower energy consumption, hydrometallurgical recycling processes are more desirable due to the
technical improvement and capacity increase in mechanical.

A lithium-ion battery comprises an anode, a cathode, organic electrolyte, and a separator. The
lamination of a cathode, an anode, and a separator by a pressing makes those electric contacts.
The cathode is an aluminium plate coated with a mixture of active cathode material, electric
conductor, PVDF binder, and additives. The anode is a copper plate coated with a mixture of
carbon graphite, conductor, PVDF binder, and additives. LiCoO2 is commonly used as an active
cathodic material for almost all commercialized LIBs due to its suitable performances such as
high energy density, ease of manufacture… However, it also has several unfavourable points such
as high cost, limited cobalt resources, toxicity, etc.

As it is composed of very special materials, lithium-ion batteries can be a dangerous product if it

is not decomposed correctly. These batteries are formed in different cells, that must be separated
one by one until you can leave the battery completely divided. It is essential to take precautions
to not damage due to the explosive or inflammatory capacity of the cells. The residues generated
during this decomposition must be isolated to not react. For all this process, a safety protocol it is
commonly used to ensure the correct dismantling. For example, one of the biggest problems of
the LIBs in the recycling plants is that, when a machine compresses a battery that is previously
pierced, it can easily exploit making it a really difficult process.

Safety precaution should be paid attention and be emphasized when LIBs are manually
dismantled. Firstly, the plastic cases of the batteries are removed using a small knife and a
screwdriver. Secondly, in order to remove the metallic shell that covers the battery, it is immersed
into liquid nitrogen for 4 min and fixed in a lathe. Such a cryogenic method is adopted for safety
precautions. In the third step, the metallic shell is then cut using a saw; the ends of the metallic
shell are removed firstly and a longitudinal cut is done aiming to access the internal material of
the battery which is removed using pliers. Fourthly, anode and cathode are uncurled manually,
separated and dried for 24 h at 60 °C. All steps in the experimental procedure are carried out using
glasses, gloves and gas masks for safe operation, preventing the workers during every dangerous
step.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/10/6/773/htm
https://pasatealoelectrico.es/2020/06/07/se-pueden-reciclar-las-baterias-de-los-vehiculos-
electricos/

5
 Figure X. Recycling process of the LIBs

PESTEL analysis

In these paragraphs are going to be analysed all the factors (political, economic, social,
technological, environmental and legal) that nowadays affect and define how lithium is extracted,
manufactured and, once it has ended its useful life, treated.
As far as the political context is concerned, according to the inform carried out by the European
Commission batteries will be one of the key enablers in this transition, given the important role
they play in stabilizing the electricity grid as well as in the deployment of clean mobility [
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/ES/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52019DC0176&from=EN#footnote44 ]. This shows the
importance of improving LIBS recycling techniques, reducing the impact generated by the waste
they produce. Nevertheless, as mentioned above [1.] lithium is considered a critical raw material
(CRM) due to not only its economic importance but also its supply risk as is shown in the graphic
below [Table]:

6
 Figure X. Supply Risk vs Economic Importance

Nowadays, as it can be observed on the picture [] lithium main suppliers are Australia, Chile,
China, and Argentina. However, hence they are far away from Europe, importing the raw material
increases its cost. Therefore, Lithium is beginning to be extracted in Portugal and is also planned
to open another mine in Caceres, Spain, in order to satisfy Europe’s raising demand of Li with a
lower environmental cost.

7
Actually, the three countries that form the triangle of lithium (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) and
have world’s greatest lithium reservoirs are suffering political instability which provokes a supply
risk for Europe (such as Chile’s and Argentina’s social revolutions or Bolivian attempted coup in
2019).
On the other hand, concerning economics, according to the same inform, Europe is aware of the
relevance of investing not only to develop better and more efficient means of energy storage
systems but also design and produce them in a way that value materials are recovered generating
lower environmental impact. Hence, the Innovation Fund will provide around EUR 10 billion
over the period 2020-2030 to support pre-commercial demonstration projects for low-carbon
technologies, including new battery devices. [ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/ES/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52019DC0176&from=EN#footnote44 ].
Moreover, an initial capital commitment of EUR 100 million is foreseen, consisting of EUR 50
million from Breakthrough Energy (or its affiliated companies) and EUR 50 million provided by
the Commission through InnovFin, the Horizon 2020 financial instrument managed by the
European Investment Bank [ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/es/IP_18_6125
].
They are starting the construction of a pilot line in Sweden with support from the European
Investment Bank. Furthermore, they are also investing in the development of advanced lithium-
ion batteries, and later solid-state lithium-ion batteries, production of which could begin in the
next few years. Some materials and recycling groups are already building plants in Poland
(CellPower [ https://cellpower.eu/about/ ]) and Finland (Nilar [https://www.nilar.com/factory-
technology/sustainability/ ] and Northvolt [ https://northvolt.com/environment/ ]) with the aim of
producing key materials for electric vehicle batteries by 2020.
In regard with the social context, on the one hand, society is deeply concerned about the impact
of fossil fuel powered vehicles on the environment and aims to re-design the way to move around,
however, on the other hand is also aware that substituting those vehicles with EV could end up
also generating a huge number of spent batteries and increasing Lithium shortages. Even though
society deeply relies on the LIBS for almost all the electronic devices that they everyday use,
LIBS are extremely volatile when they are damaged or when they reach high working
temperatures, and their electrolyte evaporates. In fact, they have already damaged several people
when they exploded [ ]. What is more, this volatility provokes a huge danger for recycling plants
where they can easily get damaged and cause fires almost every day [
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54634802 ].
As far as technological context is concerned, a great amount of research is being carried out in
order to develop safer, cleaner and more efficient solid-electrolyte batteries. As it has been
mentioned before, Europe aims to develop its own battery production industry in order to cut off
external supply dependency, from the extraction of required raw materials to the manufacturing
and implementation of the produced energy storage devices. Furthermore, new technologies and
alternative treatments are also being carried out reducing the energy cost and the loss of value
materials. For example, the use of ultrasonic waves to remove deposited material attached to the
cathode with a lower environmental cost than conventional treatments [
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/gc/d1gc01623g#!divAbstract ]. One of the
main technological challenges is that LIBS production has a very high processed cells defective
rate, up to 39%, and this rate must be radically improved while cells are re-designed in order to
make it easier to dismantle them and recover its value materials.
As for environmental context, even though batteries are essential devices to reduce fossil fuel
dependency in transport, spent batteries are dangerous (volatile and reactive) if they are dumped,

8
being able to explode or provoke fires, if they are not properly gathered and disassembled.
According to the estimations of the International Energy Agency, for the 2030, it is expected that
11 million metric tons of Li-Ion batteries will reach the end of their service lives [
https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/energy-storage ].
Finally, in regard with the legal context, European and Spanish laws stablish that the battery
producers are responsible for not only properly collecting the spent batteries but also carrying out
or financing their disassembly and treatment. Moreover, devices that make use of batteries must
allow their quick extraction to simplify the dismantling process. [
https://www.boe.es/buscar/pdf/2008/BOE-A-2008-2387-consolidado.pdf ]
To sum up, LIBS demand and production is expected to continuously raise over the next year,
specially due to automotive industry, and society must develop the industry and facilities that are
able to deal with all the spent LIBS waste that are going to be generated in the mid and long term,
not only treating the dangerous waste but also recovering from them as many value materials as
possible in order to develop the circular economy perspective that is purposed.
1.3. SWOT matrix
In the following SWOT matrix [], they have been gathered all the remarkable factors that may
influence LIBS development and implementation’s scope, classifying them as positive or negative
and as internal and external for every context.

Context Internal External

Weakness Threats
Continuous raise of Lithium
Political Instability in producer countries.
demand.
Lack of battery related industry and High cost of Lithium recovery
Economic
experience. from spent LIBS
N
Awareness about batteries' liability Society's opposition to Li
Social e
(explosion danger). mining in Europe.
g
a Lack of clean and sustainable
t Actual spent LIBS are
treatment and recovery technologies.
i hazardous and volatile waste.
Bad performance under high
Technological v temperatures, with the risk of
e Up to 39% of produced cells
electrolyte degrading and provoking
are defective.
the battery to explode
Not properly treating battery
Spent LIBS' carbon footprint,
Environmental waste can end up harming
volatility and environmental impact.
environment
Strength Opportunity
The economic growth that can bring Politicians' awareness on LIBS
Political P
the control on the Li supply relevance for the future.
o
Great investment in
s
LIBS extended use market and the investigation, production and
Economic i
continuous development of them. treatment of batteries.
t
i
Society's purpose to fight
v The strategic value Lithium has on the
Social e automobility’s electric reconversion climate change and reduce
carbon emissions.

9
 Research that has already been carried
out by automobility industry to
Technological
improve energy storage devices,
especially LIBS.
Necessity of developing great scale
energy storage devices in order to
Environmental
reduce the rely on fossil fuels to
supply energy peak demands.
Obligation of the producers to treat
Legal
and/or recycle LIBS.
Development of more efficient
LIBS and investigation that is
aimed to develop better and
cleaner treatment processes.
Reconversion of the
automobility industry.
New legislation and financing
aimed to support clean
technology industries.

2. Technological description
2.1. Description of the whole life cycle
This analysis deals with inputs and outputs (materials, waste, emissions…) through the whole life
of the product, from the mining of raw materials to the EoL product, comprising the
manufacturing process, delivery stage and use. The whole life cycle must be presented in a graphic
format.
In this section, the life cycle analysis of Lithium used in LIBS is going to be carried out. Before
Li is employed in energy storage devices, it needs to be mined, treated and processed in order to
have the desired electrical properties.
First, Li needs to be extracted from open air mines (where it is never found in pure state due to
its high reactivity) in the forms of Lithium Chloride salt and minerals such as lepidolite, petalite,
spodumene and amblygonite. The process to extract the Li salts employs huge amounts of energy
and specially water. According to the material properties data base GRANTA EduPack for every
extracted kilogram of Li between 17.8 and 19.6 kg of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere and
between 451 and 498 litres of water are lost or polluted. The embodied energy of the extracted
pure Li is between 495-546 MJ/kg. As can be observed, this mining process consumes great
amount of energy and water. Furthermore, lithium main sources are in Australia, Asia and the
American continent and need to be imported by sea transport to Europe, which also increases the
carbon footprint produced by the industrial use of Li. In order to reduce it, Europe is planning to
open new lithium mines in Portugal and Spain, where there are several reservoirs
[https://www.publico.es/sociedad/mineral-clave-futuro-tierra-rica.html]. Using SolidWork’s
Sustainability tool, a comparison has been carried out between the extracted lithium in South
America and Europe as can be observed in the table below [Table X], where both processes are
compared in order to estimate the environmental impact of importing 1 kg of raw material.
Source Type Carbon footprint Energy Water Atmosphere
(CO2 e kg) consumption eutrophication acidification
(MJ) (PO4 e kg) (SO2 e kg)
Imported from 0.048 kg CO2 e 0.602 MJ 1.5E-4 kg PO4 e 1.6E-3 kg SO2 e
South America
(9500 km)
Extracted in 0.191 kg CO2 e 2.8 MJ 2 E-4 kg PO4 e 8.9 E-4 kg SO2 e
Europe (1930 km)

10
Then, the Li compound must be degraded into metal powder in order to give to Li+ the capacity
of moving back and forth the electrolyte. This powdering process consumes between 17.4 and
19.2 MJ/kg of energy and between 19 and 28.5 l/kg of water. Moreover, they are emitted into the
atmosphere between 1.39 and 1.54 CO2 kg for every Li powder kg produced. This powder is later
placed between one of the metallic sheets (aluminium) and the electrolyte and polymer sheet
while on the other side they are placed the natural graphite and the other metallic (copper) sheet.
Once all the layers have been properly placed, they are rolled up and the cell is ready to be used.
Finally, when the cell has completed its service life, it must be properly gathered in order to
recover the value materials that it contains and deal with the hazardous ones. Due to the huge
embodied energy the lithium has, it is essential that once they are dumped the cells are dismantled,
recovering most of their value materials and using it again to feed the supply chain of battery
production. Recycling Lithium consumes between 66.9 and 74 MJ/kg and are emitted into the
atmosphere between 5.25 and 5.85 CO2 kg/kg. Lithium is not biodegradable, it cannot be
combusted to recover energy and cannot be dumped into a landfill due to its risk for human health
and the high reactivity and volatility it has. Therefore, recycling processes are the only way of
dealing with waste that contains lithium and, re-feeding its supply chain as can be observed on
the graphic [] below, which shows the lifecycle of electric vehicles:
https://www.matec-
conferences.org/articles/matecconf/pdf/2018/03/matecconf_rimes2017_04020.pdf

2.2. Recycling strategy

https://sci-hub.mksa.top/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130944
http://www.comunidadism.es/actualidad/desarrollan-un-proceso-de-reciclaje-de-baterias-cien-
veces-mas-rapido-que-los-actuales
The development of efficient separation techniques of waste lithium-ion batteries into processable
waste streams is essential to reduce material loss during the recycling process of the LIBs.
Researchers from Leicester and Birmingham Universities (UK) have developed a rapid and
simple method for removing the active material from composite electrodes using high powered
ultrasound in a continuous flow process. (X Figure) This recent method removes active electrode
materials leaving aluminium or copper virgin. The process is very effective eliminating graphite
and oxides of lithium, manganese and cobalt. This enables the amount of material that can be

11
processed in a given time and volume to be increased by a factor of approximately 100. It also
produces a material of higher purity and value that can potentially be directly recycled into new
electrodes. In the recycling strategy proposed in this article this is going to be the first step to
eliminate surface wastes in the cathode and the anode.
[https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/gc/d1gc01623g#!divAbstract]

X. Figure. High-intensity ultrasonication process.

An ultrasonic equipment is used in the process. The sonicator stack consists of a converter, a
booster and a sonotrode, mounted on a frame. A bath consisting of a tank, sample tray and basket
is placed directly under the sonotrode, where the delamination takes place. The active material
coating disperses into the solvent tank and can be easily recovered via filtration of the solvent.
Delamination is easier and faster when the electrode material is moving under the sonotrode, as
crack propagation aids delamination. These cracks will start at voids in the numerous interfacial
boundaries of the layered structure of the electrode. In both anode and cathode, the aluminium
and copper foil current collectors are effectively delaminated on both sides, leaving the foil
relatively free from active material. (X Figure)

12
 X. Figure. a) Pre-process cooper
b) Post-process cooper
c) Pre-process aluminium
d) Post-process aluminium

Current delamination recycling techniques use acids concentrated in a batch immersion process.
The new ultrasonic technique is a continuous feeding process that uses water or diluted acids as
a solvent, making the technique greener and less expensive to operate. It also produces a material
of higher purity and value that can potentially be directly recycled into new electrodes.

The next step in the recycling process of the LIBs is the hydrometallurgy for our case. Metallic
scraps can be subject to different recycling processes. Initially, the spent lithium-ion batteries
should be experienced to some types of physical processes as pre-treatment processes such as
skinning, removing of crust, crushing, sieving and separation of materials in order to separate the
cathode materials from other materials.

In the physical processes, mechanical separation techniques intend to separate materials according
to different properties like conductivity, density, magnetic behaviour... Thermal processes are
usually associated with the production of ferromanganese alloys, steel or other metallic alloys.
Mechanochemical (MC) process is to use a grinding technique that makes the crystal structure of
the LiCoO2, the positive electrode in the LIB, into disordered system, enabling useful substances
such as Co and Li easily extracted by acid leaching at room temperature from the lithium-ion
batteries scraps wastes. Dissolution process is to use special organic reagents to dissolve the
adhesive substance (PVDF), which adheres the anode and cathode electrodes, and therefore this
process can make LiCoO2 get separated from their support substrate easily and recovered
effectively.

13
As it is mentioned before in the end-of-life part, hydrometallurgical recycling process is more
desirable due to the lower energy consumption and higher material recovery. That is why after
eliminating the waste particles mechanical process begin. To remove pieces of steel casting, a
magnetic separator is used. A fine crushing is done next, in order to eliminate small pieces of
aluminium foil attaching to the particles of lithium cobalt oxide. The reason why this type of
separation is realized before the metal leaching process here is that it improves the recovery
efficiency of target metals and eliminates the need for a purification process of the leachate. As
the PVDF binder does not dissolve in acid solution, it remains in the cake after filtration. In
addition, carbon is not dissolved in acid solution, but floats in the solution; from filtration it is
separated in the cake.

Mechanical separation processes have the disadvantage of not having all kinds of components in
used LIBs get separated from each other, since LIB is composed of several metals, organic
substances, inorganic substances that penetrate each other, and has a small volume and a very
precise, fine and complex structure, therefore these components are difficult to separate from each
other by mechanical separation processes.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775307026195?via%3Dihub

3. Challenges
3.1. Product life cycle challenges and opportunities
Based on the life cycle analysis and the manufacturing process: identify, evaluate and select
enhanced actions according to the CE principles.
The first actions that should be considered would be that Europe must reduce the import supply
dependency. In order to achieve this goal, two measures should be implemented: on the one hand,

14
Europe should take advantage of its Li mines (i.e. in Spain and Portugal) and begin extracting
raw material from them without supply risk and on the other hand.
Europe should also develop an industry that is not only able of producing efficient batteries, from
employed materials and energetic density points of view, but also to gather, classify, treat and
take advantage of all the spent battery waste’s value materials, reintroducing them back in the
supply chain of battery production.
Finally, the LIBS that will be manufactured must be standardized and designed in order to make
disassembly as simple and safe as possible and experimental automatized treatment plants must
be enlarged to industrial scale so they can deal with the increasing amount of waste batteries.
3.2. Application of the recycled material
Nowadays, pyrometallurgy consumes great amounts of energy while they don’t achieve the purity
required to employ the materials back in battery manufacturing. Therefore, innovative techniques
that can reduce the energy cost such as the ultrasonic treatment mentioned above [2.2] and
increase purity rates so they can be employed for battery manufacturing with high quality
production control. However, until the treatments are improved so that they recover the materials
with the required quality, it is considered that the recovered Lithium should be mainly employed
in casting instead, hence they don’t require those levels of quality and the impurities will be
removed with the slag while the mined Lithium should be mostly used for battery manufacturing.
Once those treatments are developed and their efficiencies are improved the recovered material
will be suitable for battery manufacturing.
Conclusions
As it has been explained previously in the life cycle segment, see [1.1.] Europe has a long-term
vision for a climate-neutral economy by 2050, to achieve this neutral carbon balance is needed,
so batteries are an essential technology to impulse emission free transport and the electrical
network. Currently, the European share of cell manufacturing worldwide is only 3%, while Asia
has a share of 85%, these shows us how the battery market depends directly at the battery
importation from China. In order to cut off this dependency, Europe must develop its own battery
manufacturing industry, from the raw material obtention to the gathering of the spent ones and
the recovery of their value materials with the minimum energetical and environmental cost. Only
this way will be able of keeping up with automobility industry’s increasing demands for more
sustainable and clean means of transport.
Last but not least, the general use of electric powered means of transport must be undoubtedly
build on sustainable, reliable and affordable electric power supply sources, which nowadays
Europe doesn’t have due to being highly dependent on gas and coal based energy production.

References

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[4] WEBSITE (www.mksnisnis.com, visited 07/09/2021)

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force peak in the impact curve (figure X) is in all cases higher than 2 N...”.
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the
figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a
minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Fig. 4. (a) Representative force–time impact curves for aluminium samples with different distance between the impact
contact point and the nearest flow path, and (b) position of the nearest flow path in each aluminium sample, crack
morphology according to the distance.

Table format
Table 2. Injection pressure, filling time and clamping force calculated by PAM-RTM simulations.
Process Injection pressure [bar] Filling time [s] Clamping force [t]
RTM 6 616 81
HP-RTM 60 228 490
CRTM 1 28+2 6

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