R.T. Rios, C. Iloeje
Argonne National Laboratory,
United States
Keywords: LIB recycling, optimization, recycling deployment, critical materials
Summary:
Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are essential for powering electric vehicles that play a pivotal role in decarbonizing the transport sector. As LIBs reach their end of life, recycling offers a critical opportunity to recover critical materials, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite. This not only reduces reliance on imports but also bolsters the resilience of the domestic supply chain. However, the effectiveness of material recovery, as well as the amount, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions related to recovery can vary widely depending on the type of recycling technology used – be it pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, or direct recycling. In the United States, the recycling infrastructure for spent LIBs is underdeveloped, with no comprehensive federal recycling regulation. This has led to low reported recycling rates in the US and export to countries with more established recycling infrastructure. Since the critical decisions regarding expanding recycling infrastructure made in the years to come will affect spent LIB recycling in the decades to come, it is particularly important to optimize the deployment of technologies in a forward-thinking way to account for evolving supply chain vulnerabilities and maximize domestic critical material recovery. Existing research has explored aspects such as facility location optimization with respect to metrics like cost and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as how uncertainties related to feedstock volume and the price of recycled materials affect recycling rates, and the impact of various policies on economic viability of LIB recycling. However, these studies often overlook key factors, such as the different types of recycling technologies, the influence of existing infrastructure, or ultimately how different policy driven scenarios may affect critical material supply in the US. Additionally, they provide limited insights into realistic deployment pathways, particularly regarding the spatio-temporal buildout of infrastructure - when, where, and which technologies to deploy. This study addresses these gaps by incorporating consideration for multiple time periods, recycling technologies, availability and spatial distribution of spent LIBs. It evaluates these against key metrics, such as cost and greenhouse gas emissions, while accounting for existing infrastructure. Results will show, given existing infrastructure, what is the optimal deployment of specific recycling technologies and how different deployment choices can affect the domestic supply of critical materials. The outcomes of this work will provide more realistic decision support to inform future recycling, policy, and industrial strategies to identify pathways for the US to strength its domestic supply chain of critical materials integral to LIBs.