It is well known that traditional dry-cell batteries and lead-acid batteries can cause significant environmental damage if not properly recycled and disposed of. In contrast, lithium-ion batteries are widely regarded as environmentally friendly and pollution-free "green batteries." Especially with the deliberate promotion by many power battery companies, lithium-ion batteries seem to be completely "immune" to pollution.
However, the reality is that improper production and recycling of lithium-ion batteries can also cause pollution. Given the current pace of development in new energy vehicles, if research and development into the industrialization of power battery recycling are not undertaken as soon as possible, as Wang Fang, chief expert and director of the New Energy Department at the China Automotive Technology Research Center, stated, decades from now, our descendants may be living in an environment filled with discarded batteries and electric vehicles.
How can lithium batteries break free from the old path of "polluting first and then cleaning up"?
Facing the pollution problem of lithium-ion batteries
Currently, the global electric vehicle market (excluding fuel cell vehicles) mainly uses lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganese oxide, lithium cobalt oxide, and nickel-cobalt-manganese (ternary) batteries. After these batteries are retired, they will become potential sources of pollution.
While lithium-ion batteries do not contain highly toxic heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead, the positive and negative electrode materials and electrolyte solutions still have a significant impact on the environment and human health. Therefore, if discarded lithium-ion batteries are disposed of using ordinary waste treatment methods (including landfill, incineration, and composting), the cobalt, nickel, lithium, manganese, and other metals, as well as inorganic and organic compounds, will inevitably cause severe pollution to the atmosphere, water, and soil, posing a significant hazard. Substances from discarded lithium-ion batteries, if released into the environment, can cause heavy metal pollution (including arsenic), fluorine pollution, organic pollution, dust, and acid/alkali pollution. The electrolytes and their conversion products from discarded lithium-ion batteries, such as LiPF6, LiAsF6, LiCF3SO3, HF, and P2O5, as well as the solvents and their decomposition and hydrolysis products, such as DME, methanol, and formic acid, are all toxic and harmful substances that can cause personal injury or even death.
According to statistics from relevant media, given the rapid development of electric vehicles in my country, if the number of electric vehicles exceeds 5 million by 2020, and assuming an average battery capacity of 20 kWh per vehicle, approximately 100 million kWh (1000 GWh) of lithium-ion batteries will enter the automotive market. Improper recycling and disposal could result in environmental damage several times greater than that caused by dry-cell and lead-acid batteries.
The rational recycling and utilization of retired vehicle batteries cannot wait until the electric vehicle market develops before considering and planning for it. Currently, research and practice in technology, market, industry, policy, and environmental protection, as well as the improvement of supporting measures for the power battery aftermarket, are urgently needed.
It is important to conduct industrialization research and accumulation as early as possible.
At present, in the recycling of power batteries, "cascade utilization" is considered by the government and industry insiders to be a greener and more environmentally friendly approach. It can not only maximize the value of the product, but also maximize the benefits of the circular economy.
At the national level, relevant support policies, industry norms, and standards for the cascade utilization of power batteries are being actively formulated.
On October 18, the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) began soliciting public opinions on the national recommended standard "Coding of Power Batteries for Automobiles." This standard implements "full life-cycle traceability and management" for the production, sales, use, maintenance, recycling, secondary use, and regeneration of power batteries for automobiles. A relevant leader from the Equipment Industry Department of MIIT stated that the recycling and utilization of power batteries will be based on "full life-cycle traceability and management," achieving full control over power batteries from "birth" to "regeneration," ensuring that power batteries have reliable sources, traceable destinations, and controllable processes at every stage.
Research on the secondary use of power batteries is also underway in academia.
At the "Power Battery Materials and Comprehensive Utilization of Materials" seminar held by the China EV100 on November 2, Wang Fang, chief expert and director of the New Energy Department of the China Automotive Technology Research Center, introduced the latest research results and directions on the cascade utilization of power batteries.
She stated that there are still difficulties in realizing the tiered utilization of batteries in China, mainly due to the imperfect market mechanism, incomplete policies and regulations, lack of historical data, uncertainty of tiered utilization scenarios, difficulty in battery dismantling and high cost and risk of reassembly, and increased safety hazards after tiered utilization.
Wang Fang proposed that to achieve the tiered utilization of power batteries, it is necessary to establish a full life-cycle monitoring system for power batteries to conduct real-time assessments of their health status. Battery evaluation and monitoring should be integrated throughout the entire battery's lifespan, rather than waiting until the battery is phased out before testing and screening.
Regarding the approach to achieving full lifecycle monitoring, Wang Fang explained that batteries are coded as soon as they come off the production line, giving them a unique "identity card." From this point on, the battery is monitored, including at every stage of production and use, with the monitoring system constantly monitoring and evaluating it. During the monitoring process, the system assesses the battery's health status and generates data based on a comprehensive evaluation system. This data is actionable, unique, comprehensive, and fully traceable.
"The monitoring system's assessment of battery condition is like a doctor's assessment of a person's health. After the battery undergoes a health assessment and an intermediate integration process, it can be correctly matched to scenarios where it can be used in stages, including high-end fields such as wind, solar and energy storage, as well as low-end fields such as home energy storage."
