A Review of Industrial Processes for Recycling of Li-Ion Batteries

Abstract

In the near future, we see that there will be an energy crisis as the non-renewable energy sources will get depleted someday. Nevertheless, we will need to forbid the usage of IC engines as it is leading to environmental pollution. Taking this into consideration, the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector has gained huge opportunities for development as it is ultimately reducing the carbon emissions. The main components of EV are the motor, transmission system, Battery management system and battery module. The batteries play a vital role in an EV and their availability is important as its constituents such as lithium, cobalt & some other rare earth elements are not available easily. After the first usage of batteries, they are dumped into landfills. These batteries contain harmful chemical elements which can lead to environmental pollution. Instead, these batteries can be reused for lower load applications and after which they can be recycled. This paper reviews different technologies for recycling of batteries such as hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy and direct recycling by discussing their advantages and challenges. Battery recycling provides new opportunities for businesses and maintains a balanced supply chain economically. This paper also opens up many research areas where there is a scope for further development to improve the battery recycling process. Thus, recycling of batteries enhances the battery life cycle and addresses the issues of non-availability and higher prices of its constituent elements.