The Importance of Recyclability for the Environmental Performance of Battery Systems

Abstract

While several studies about the environmental impacts of batteries exist, the end-of-life stage is often disregarded and the relevance of battery reuse or recycling not quantified. However, the end-of-life phase of battery storage systems is highly relevant for their overall environmental performance. In order to quantify this relevance, we extend existing LCA studies by an end-of life model and assess the influence of battery recycling for the life cycle impact of three different battery types. These include a lithium-ion battery (LIB), a vanadium-redox-flow battery (VRFB) and an aqueous hybrid ion battery (AHIB), all for stationary energy storage services (renewable support). The results show that a high recyclability can improve the environmental performance of the batteries over their life cycle significantly. This underlines the need for a design for recyclability of batteries for minimising environmental impacts of battery systems and the corresponding loss of valuable resources.