Environmental impacts of lithium-ion batteries

A lithium-ion battery from a Samsung phone

Lithium batteries are primary batteries that use lithium as an anode. This type of battery is also referred to as lithium-ion batteries.^[1] Most commonly used for electric vehicles and electronics.^[2] The first type of lithium battery was originally created by the British chemist M. Stanley Whittingham in the early 1970s which used titanium and lithium as the electrodes. Unfortunately, this battery had complications from the high prices of titanium as well as the reaction produced a highly unpleasant and toxic scent.^[3] It took several attempts with other designs until we have come to todays lithium ion battery, which was modeled after the Whittingham attempt by Akira Yoshino in 1985.

Environmental impact and recycling[]

Environmental impact[]

Lithium-ion batteries contain less toxic metals than other batteries that could contain toxic metals such lead or cadmium,^[4] they are therefore generally considered to be non-hazardous waste. Most of the elements within lithium-ion batteries such as iron, copper, nickel and cobalt^{[citation needed]} are considered safe for landfills and incinerators.^[5][6] While safe for the landfills, the physical mining of lithium and the production of lithium-ion are both incredibly labor intensive with a majority of it not being recycled, causing the impacts on the environment to be costly. On top of this, as lithium-ion battery production increases, this causes a demand strain on the precious metals needed to produce lithium-ion and may cause environmental concerns from the waste generated in this.^[7] The extraction process of lithium is very resource demanding and specifically uses a lot of water in the extraction process. It is estimated that 500,000 gallons of water is used to mine one metric ton of lithium.^[8] With the world's leading country in production of lithium being Chile,^[9] the lithium mines are in rural areas with an extremely diverse ecosystem.^[10] In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, one of the driest places on earth, about 65% of the water is used to mine lithium; leaving many of the local farmers and members of the community to find water elsewhere.^[11][12] It is common for locals to be in conflict with the surrounding lithium mines. There have been many accounts of dead animals and ruined farms in the surrounding areas of many of these mines. In Tagong, a small town in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture China, there are records of dead fish and large animals floating down some of the rivers near the Tibetan mines. After further investigation, researchers found that this may have been caused by leakage of evaporation pools that sit for months and sometimes even years.^[13]

Recycling[]

There are currently three major methods used for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries, those being:

• pyrometallurgical recovery,
• hydrometallurgical metals reclamation and
• direct recycling.

While recycling is an option, it still generally remains being more expensive than mining the ores themselves.^[14] With the rising demand for lithium-ion batteries the need for a more efficient recycling program is detrimental with many companies racing to find the most efficient method. One of the most pressing issues is when the batteries are manufactured, recycling is not considered a design priority.^[15]

Application[]

There are plenty of uses for lithium-ion batteries since they are light, rechargeable and can be compact. The two predominant industries are Electric vehicles and hand held electronics but there is also a rise in use for military and aerospace applications.^[16]

Electric vehicles[]

A lithium-ion car battery

The primary industry and source of the lithium-ion battery is electric vehicles (EV). Electric vehicles have seen a massive increase in sales in recent years with over 90% of all global car markets having EV incentives in place as of 2019.^[17] With this increase in sales of EVs and the continued sales of them we can see a significant improvement to environmental impacts from the reduction of fossil fuel dependencies.^[18] There has been recent studies that explore different uses for recycled lithium ion batteries specifically from electric vehicles. Specifically the secondary use of lithium ion batteries recycled from electric vehicles for secondary use in power load peak shaving in China has been proven to be effective for grid companies.^[19] With the environmental threats that are posed by spent lithium-ion batteries paired with the future supply risks of battery components for electric vehicles, remanufacturing of lithium batteries must be considered. Based on the EverBatt model, a test was conducted in China which concluded that remanufacturing of lithium-ion batteries will only be cost effective when the purchase price of spent batteries remains low. Recycling will also have significant benefits to environmental impacts. In terms of greenhouse gas reduction we see a 6.62% reduction in total GHG emissions with the use of remanufacturing.^[20]

See also[]

• Aluminum-ion battery
• Battery recycling
• Glass battery
• Lithium battery
• Lithium-sulfur battery
• Sodium-ion battery
• Potassium-ion battery

References[]