Recycling of spent lithium-iron phosphate batteries: toward closing the loop

ABSTRACT

Due to the finite availability of fossil fuels, enormous efforts have been made to replace gasoline automobiles with electric transportation vehicles. The recycling of dead batteries, which is a critical energy resource component of today’s electric vehicles (EVs), is required for the development of more sustainable EVs sector. Despite rising return flows, less attention has been placed on the recycling of LFP batteries due to their low proportion of value aided metals. It is critical to create cost-effective lithium extraction technologies and cathode material restoration procedures to enable the long-term and stable growth of the LFP battery and EV industries. The current state of the LFP battery market along with electrochemical properties and synthetic routes is briefly discussed in this report. Moreover, recycling procedures for LIBs are examined, and their relevance for LFP batteries is evaluated. Individually customizable procedures such as mechanical pre-treatment of cells, hydrometallurgical upscaling of the active cathode material appears to be the most efficient method option for LFP battery recycling. However, these procedures can be scaled up on a pilot scale, and their profitability and environmental performance are debatable.

KEYWORDS:

• Recycling
• lithium-ion batteries
• lithium phosphate batteries
• hydrometallurgy
• black mass
• leaching
• organic
• inorganic

Abbreviations

LIB	=	Lithium ion-battery
IPCC	=	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
LCO	=	Lithium Cobalt Oxide
NMC	=	Nickel, Manganese and Cobalt Oxide
NCA	=	Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum oxide
LMO	=	Lithium Manganese oxide
LFP	=	Lithium Iron phosphate
BEV	=	Battery Electrical Vehicle
BOM	=	Bill of materials
CRMs	=	Crucial raw materials
USGS	=	United States Geological Survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).