ENVS3750 Industrial Ecology: LCA of Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

This assignment presents a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis of Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs), focusing on the treatment of spent batteries within a mechanical process. The functional unit is 1000kg of spent LIBs, and the analysis begins with cryogenic cooling using liquid nitrogen, followed by shredding and hammer milling. The process incorporates water and lithium brine, with emissions controlled via scrubbers and filters. The output stream is separated into a lithium solution and undissolved fluff, which is sold to steel refineries. The composition of LIBs, including cathode and anode materials, is detailed, with considerations for battery capacity and energy usage. The analysis also includes energy composition data for various battery components, the system boundary diagram, and references to relevant literature. This project provides a comprehensive overview of the environmental impact of LIBs from production to recycling.

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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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the higher the size the more the reactions in the battery electrodes.
The LIB with 43.2kwh pack is recommended to be used with electric vehicle of the weight of
1936.8 kg with an average distance of 200,000km in a period of 10years. [Pohjalainen et al.;
2015] The battery has 36 modules where each consist of 12 cells. The weight of the battery is
360 kg. During the LCA the energy used from the pack is included in the analysis. The energy
composition include silicon with 74.63MJ/kg, SiNW preparation with 4.44 MJ/kg, aluminum foil
with 3.273 MJ/kg, NMC with 2.525 MJ/kg and copper with 0.77 MJ/kg. This composition
produces the highest amount of energy of about 79.07 MJ/kg in LIB battery as shown in table
below. [Zackrisson et al.; 2016]
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The system boundary diagram indicates the theoretical and laboratory data as well as database of
emanating from professionals. The theoretical and lab information include; material processing,
component manufacturing and battery manufacturing. [Panchal et al.; 2016] Whereas the
database from the professional include material extraction, usage in electric vehicles, end of life
of the battery, disposal and recycling. The system boundary entails all the relevant operations in
the production of the battery and the key functions connected with the suppliers. The diagram
below separates the input, processing and output.
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REFERENCES
1. Ellingsen LA, Singh B, Strømman AH. The size and range effect: lifecycle greenhouse
gas emissions of electric vehicles. Environmental Research Letters. 2016 May 6;
11(5):054010 pp.
2. Panchal S, Dincer I, Agelin-Chaab M, Fraser R, Fowler M. Thermal modeling and
validation of temperature distributions in a prismatic lithium-ion battery at different
discharge rates and varying boundary conditions. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2016
Mar 5; 96:190-9 pp.
3. Pohjalainen E, Rauhala T, Valkeapää M, Kallioinen J, Kallio T. Effect of Li4Ti5O12
particle size on the performance of lithium ion battery electrodes at high C-rates and low
temperatures. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2015 Feb 5; 119(5):2277-83 pp.
4. Wang Q, Liu W, Yuan X, Tang H, Tang Y, Wang M, Zuo J, Song Z, Sun J.
Environmental impact analysis and process optimization of batteries based on life cycle
assessment. Journal of cleaner production. 2018 Feb 10; 174:1262-73 pp.
5. Zackrisson M, Fransson K, Hildenbrand J, Lampic G, O'Dwyer C. Life cycle assessment
of lithium-air battery cells. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2016 Nov 1; 135:299-311 pp.
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