Abstract
Since environmental benefits and supply chain resilience are commonly assumed for circular economy strategies, this study tests this hypothesis in the context of lithium-ion battery recycling and cell manufacturing. Therefore, the use of recyclates from different cathode active materials and from different recycling routes, namely hydrometallurgy and direct recycling, in a subsequent cell production is modelled with the recyclate quotas prescribed by the amended European Battery Regulation and analysed using life cycle assessment methodology. This study concludes that both, negative and positive environmental impacts can be achieved by the usage of recyclates, depended on the cell technology and the recycling process chosen. Newly constructed lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells using a share of 11.3% of recyclates, which are obtained from LFP cells by a hydrometallurgical process, achieve a deterioration in the ecology by 7.5% for the global warming potential (GWP) compared to LFP cells without any recyclate share at all. For the same recyclate quota scenario, hydrometallurgical recyclates from lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide cells (NMC), on the other hand, achieve savings in GWP of up to 1.2%. Recyclates from direct recycling achieve savings in GWP for LPF and NMC of a maximum of 6.3% and 12.3%, by using a recyclate share of 20%. It can be seen that circular economy can raise large savings potentials ecologically, but can also have a contrary effect if not properly applied.
Funder
Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg
Subject
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Geography, Planning and Development,Building and Construction
Reference68 articles.
1. Climate impact of increasing atmos-pheric carbon dioxide;Hansen;Science,1981
2. Saving the planet with appropriate biotechnology: 1. Diagnosing the prob-lems;Moore;Mexjbiotechnol,2021
3. Net-Zero CO2 Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050;Mengis;Earth Future,2022
4. IPCC (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC.
5. (2022, December 13). Mitteilung der Kommission an das Europäische Parlament, den Europäischen Rat, den Europäischen Wirtschafts- und Sozialausschuss und den Ausschuss der Regionen—Der europäische Grüne Deal: COM(2019) 640 Final. Available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2019%3A640%3AFIN.
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献