John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
Recycling lithium-ion batteries is shown to have substantial environmental advantages over traditional mining, according to a recent lifecycle analysis by Stanford University published in Nature Communications. The study suggests that large-scale recycling can mitigate the long-term supply insecurity of essential battery minerals.
Lithium-ion battery recyclers obtain materials from two primary sources: defective scrap material from manufacturers and "dead" batteries collected mainly from workplaces. The recycling process recovers metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and aluminum.
The research indicates that this recycling process results in less than half the greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional mining and refining of these metals. It also uses approximately one-fourth of the water and energy required for mining new metals. The environmental benefits are even more significant for scrap material, which accounted for about 90% of the recycled supply studied.
“Recently, I was in an Uber electric vehicle. The driver asked me if EVs really are ‘good’ for the environment because he recently had read that maybe they aren’t. All he knew was that I was faculty at Stanford,” William Tarpeh, assistant professor of chemical engineering in the School of Engineering and the study’s senior author, recalled with a chuckle.
“I told him that EVs definitely are good for the environment, and we’re now finding new ways to make them even more so,” said Tarpeh. “This study, I think, tells us that we can design the future of battery recycling to optimize the environmental benefits.”
The location and electricity source of processing facilities significantly influence battery recycling's environmental impacts.
“A battery recycling plant in regions that rely heavily on electricity generated by burning coal would see a diminished climate advantage,” stated Samantha Bunke, a PhD student at Stanford and one of the study’s lead investigators.
Most data used in this study were sourced from Redwood Materials in Nevada – North America's largest industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility – which benefits from cleaner energy sources like hydropower and solar power.
Transportation is another critical factor impacting overall emissions. “We determined that the total transport distance for conventional mining and refining averages about 35,000 miles (57,000 kilometers),” said Michael Machala, PhD ’17. “Our estimated total transport of used batteries...was around 140 miles (225 kilometers).”
Redwood Materials has incorporated findings from this research into its operations to reduce its environmental footprint further. JB Straubel noted: “The insights of this research have played a key role in refining Redwood’s battery recycling processes.”
While Redwood's patented "reductive calcination" process operates at lower temperatures without fossil fuels use, similar pyrometallurgical processes are emerging globally.
Industrial-scale battery recycling is expanding but not fast enough to meet future demands predicted by experts like Tarpeh: “We’re forecast to run out of new cobalt...in next decade."
Currently facing a shortage forecast within ten years for new cobalt resources among others; innovative solutions involving enhanced collection systems will become vital alongside evolving manufacturing practices prioritizing ease-of-recycling designs over time too!
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