The Assignment on Life Cycle Inventory Analysis

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Life Cycle Inventory analysis
The first step in the system input is the functional unit which constituent 1000kg of spent LIBs in
the treatment part of the mechanical process. Here the temperatures of batteries are cooled
through cryogenic method by use of nitrogen liquid to approximately -195degrees. The amount
of electricity of about 60kWh is applied. After lowering the temperatures, the batteries are
shredded and taken to the hammer mill where the amount of electricity needed is 565.2 MJ
whose equivalent is 157kWh. [Ellingsen, Singh, Strømman; 2016] 150 liters of water is added
then combined with lithium brine and circulated in downstream method. The emanating
emissions from the shredding as well as hammer mill are eliminated through scrubber and the
filter. The outcome hammer mill output stream is put into a lithium solution with undissolved
product fluff. The fluff that remained unsolved is sold to steel refineries. The fluff weighs
1333.25 kg of plastic and 205 kg of steel. Net lithium solution is put in a shaker table to separate
copper and cobalt materials. The two products make 60% of the battery composition. The table
below indicates the materials and their quantities.
The composition of Li-ion batteries can be different depending on the constituent of the cathode.
The table below indicates the materials that make up the Li-ion batteries. Cathodes mainly
constitute lithium salts from various mixtures. On the side of the anodes, they can be graphite or
lithium salt of titanium oxide (TiO). [Zackrisson et al.; 2016]
Also, as indicated in table the weight of electrode materials differ due to the size of the lithium
battery in terms of capacity, hence as the weight of the electrodes increases the capacity of the
battery also increases. The functionality of the lithium battery is purely chemical reactions, thus
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