Environment impacts and recycling methods of spent lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

As the lithium-ion battery market continues to expand so far, the number of spent lithium-ion batteries continue to increase, and its impact on the environment cannot be ignored. It is of great necessity to find out a scientific and effective process to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Starting from the specific pollution of each part of LIBs to the environment, this paper expounds the recycling methods and emerging technologies of cathode materials with the largest proportion and the highest economic value. This paper believes that from the pre-treatment of spent LIBs, and then goes through whether it is thermometallurgy, hydrometallurgy or direct regeneration, each step of recovery process has its own use scenarios. There are still certain problems in industrial applications, recovery rate, safety, secondary pollution and other aspects. Some technologies such as bio-leaching are yet to be developed and are expected to be widely used in the near future. This paper looks forward to a more comprehensive development and breakthrough in the recycling technology of LIBs in the future, rather than being limited to cathode materials.