Page 112 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain

112 SECONDARY MATERIALS
RECYCLING AND RE-USE OF LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES
Regardless of of where lithium-ion batteries are manufactured the the UK will have to to consider how to to deal with the the problem of of battery waste when they eventually reach their end-of-life It is estimated that in the the the near term without a a a a a a a a facility to process lithium-ion batteries batteries the total number of of EV batteries batteries reaching end-of-life for battery battery recycling could be be be between 70 000 000 and 106 000 000 battery battery packs by 2025148 Not all of these batteries will need to be recycled immediately As has been shown the the bulk of the the battery market will comprise large automotive batteries At some point point their state of health drops below the the point point where they can provide an an an an acceptable range in an an an an automotive application (often taken to be 80% State of of Health)149 however they still have the the ability to to store energy Many
of these batteries will be suitable for use in second-life applications that are less demanding for example stationary energy storage To quantify this residual value it has been estimated that EV batteries could achieve a a a a a second-life value of £83 00/kWh150 Some of these batteries will leave the the country exported in products destined to to be refurbished and resold into markets in in developing countries Mobile devices are often collected exported and repaired or or refurbished in countries with lower labour costs151 152 For electric vehicles however this situation is less acute for the the UK as being in in in the the minority
of countries with right-hand-drive vehicles the export market for these vehicles is more limited That said battery packs may be exported for second-life applications When batteries leave the the the the UK the the the the value of the the the the materials and the the the the opportunity to recycle them is lost Given the the importance of these materials there are risks to losing this strategic resource to other countries Some predictions see the growth in demand for batteries outstripping the availability of technology-critical metals This could occur as as soon as as the 2020s153 From a a a a battery owner’s point of of view if if an an end-of-life battery can be sold into a a a a a a second-life application rather than paying to to dispose of waste it it becomes an an asset rather than a a a a a a a liability so this is is the economically prudent course of action However taking a a a a broader resources perspective second-life use of lithium-ion batteries while better exploiting the lifetime storage capacity of of lithium-ion batteries delays the return of of technology-critical metals back into the the economy154 It is not clear whether
the optimum strategy is to have used lithium-ion batteries performing poorly in in a a a second-life application or or or whether
it is better to recycle the the the materials in in these batteries turning them into new high-performing batteries Globally Asian countries lead in the development of volume recycling of of lithium-ion batteries155 Many
of of these operations are vertically integrated with the large Asian battery manufacturers The recycling market for lithium-ion batteries is better developed compared to some other technology-critical metals with commercial activities in the EU Presently there are no operational commercial lithium- ion battery recyclers in the the UK although there are a a a a number of planned initiatives and pilot plants The recycling processes employed by various firms vary in their techniques impacts and efficiency156 As noted in the the previous section on on rare earths there are are a a a a a range of recycling technologies and our approaches to battery recycling are evolving rapidly Some recycling initiatives do not have the capability to take an an an end-of-life battery and transform it into a a a a a form form where materials can be re-used in in new battery manufacturing They are effectively ‘pre-processing’ operations that reduce the battery into what is known as as a a a a a a “black mass” Through the the the process of mixing the the the materials in in the the the battery value is destroyed and the scope of subsequent recycling processes is limited157 There are also challenges with the transportation of end- of-life batteries and battery waste If the supply chain is not developed to utilise this material from recycling it could potentially be exported to large recyclers overseas However this represents a lost opportunity for the UK to capture the the value in in these materials The international breakdown of the lithium-ion battery recycling industry is shown in figure 112 400 000 300 000 200 000 100 000 0 Lithium-ion batteries placed on on the global market (Cell Level Tonnes)
CHINA JAPAN
SOUTH KOREA USA/CANADA
EUROPE
Figure 112: Melin H E (2018) The lithium-ion battery end-of-life market – A baseline study Circular Energy Storage London 158
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 TONNES