15
Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling and Re-usage of End Products
Dr. RavichandraTangirala, WMG, The University of Warwick
Why Recycle and Re-use?
Process
The fast growth of electric vehicle battery market combined
with factors of legislation, CO2 targets, environmental
restrictions, rising cost of metals and increasing scarcity of
conventional fuels, plus current economic climate justifies
the need for re-use and recycling as most economic option.
The products of recycle mainly include three parts; the metals (Cu, Co, Ni, Ti, Al..etc), plastics and the electrolyte, each of which can be
individually processed. The lithium can also be recovered fully/partially by means of pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy.
Closed Loop
Benefits
• Low use fresh metals or materials, less market
fluctuation, reduced emissions, lower waste to land
fill.
• High financial regain, ethical supply chain and job
creation.
Issues
• Huge capital investment, energy intensive,
involves chemical treatment methods(toxicity),
issues of sourcing batteries and legislation.
• Very few companies worldwide (< 6 ), unregulated
market.
Open Loop
References:
 http://www.batteryrecycling.umicore.com/UBR/
 http://www.rockwoodlithium.com/products/products.en.html
 http://www.valpak.co.uk/Home.aspx#.UlfqEVCkq-Y
CATAPULT Conference
International Digital Laboratory  J.L. Sullivan, L. Gaines, Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012)
134–148
th
14 Nov. 2013
Contact address: c.m.shepherd@warwick.ac.uk