Life cycle comparison of industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling and mining supply chains.
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Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39856111.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56063-x and PMC identifier 11761346.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can supplement critical materials and improve the environmental sustainability of LIB supply chains. In this work, environmental impacts (greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, energy consumption) of industrial-scale production of battery-grade cathode materials from end-of-life LIBs are compared to those of conventional mining supply chains. Converting mixed-stream LIBs into battery-grade materials reduces environmental impacts by at least 58%. Recycling batteries to mixed metal products instead of discrete salts further reduces environmental impacts. Electricity consumption is identified as the principal contributor to all LIB recycling environmental impacts, and different electricity sources can change greenhouse gas emissions up to five times. Supply chain steps that precede refinement (material extraction and transport) contribute marginally to the environmental impacts of circular LIB supply chains (<4%), but are more significant in conventional supply chains (30%). This analysis provides insights for advancing sustainable LIB supply chains, and informs optimization of industrial-scale environmental impacts for emerging battery recycling efforts.