Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Guide to Sustainability

Lithium-ion battery recycling is crucial for environmental, social and economic sustainability. However, few governments and corporations have embraced it because it is time-consuming and expensive. Most alternatives have their own flaws. Why isn’t recycling lithium batteries profitable? What can engineers do to scale novel recycling techniques? 

What Rate of Lithium-Ion Batteries Are Recycled?

Despite being the most common battery material in the world today, unusually few lithium-ion cells are recycled. Conventional techniques are time-consuming, expensive and yield few usable metals. Companies simply do not want to invest in those processes when material extraction and assembly-line production are cheaper. 

The global measure for materials breaks things down further. No more than 1% of lithium was recycled at the end-of-life stage. In contrast, the recycling rate for aluminum and cobalt hovered around 70%. For nickel and copper, it was roughly 50%. 

The problem isn’t that extracting these materials is impossible with our current technologies. After all, when a battery is recycled, 95% of the minerals it contains can be reused. The problem is that relatively few firms have wanted to invest in a solution that does not cushion the bottom line. However, as lithium-ion cells become more prevalent, more are seeing the need.

What Happens to the Batteries That Aren’t Recycled

Lithium-ion batteries are supposed to go to recycling centers or hazardous waste collection points when they reach their end-of-life stage. Instead, what usually happens is that people discard them alongside typical household wastes—especially if they are small enough to fit in a standard garbage can.

When lithium-ion cells are not recycled, they end up in landfills or dump sites. Here, heavy metals like lead and toxic chemicals like hydrofluoric acid slowly leech into the ground, contaminating soil and groundwater. 

The pack’s highly volatile liquid electrolyte can easily cause chemical corrosion. If thermal runaway occurs, it will catch fire, spewing acutely toxic smoke into the air. Ultimately, nearby communities will suffer the effects of air, water and soil pollution.

Since those batteries were landfilled instead of recycled, more raw materials must now be mined, transported and processed. Environmental hazards appear as early as the material extraction stage. Many companies rely on modern-day slavery in developing countries. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), locals work in dangerous conditions to mine cobalt for just a few dollars per day. Standing in pits or crouched in tunnels, they use pickaxes, fragments of rebar or their bare hands to scrape and break the earth. The air is always hazy with dirt and toxic cobalt dust, but they keep working. 

The DRC produced 74% of the world’s mined cobalt in 2021 from so-called “artisanal” and “small-scale” mines. Virtually no supply of cobalt is cruelty-free, fair trade or sustainable. 

Siddharth Kara, the author of “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives,” said these artisanal miners are exploited—and sometimes trafficked. He estimated hundreds of thousands of them were displaced when their villages were unceremoniously bulldozed to make room for large mining operations. 

The Value in Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling 

Lithium-ion battery recycling is the only long-term sustainable way to support the economy, environment and society. 

Fewer Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Recycling can shrink a company’s carbon footprint. According to McKinsey & Company, the total carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from a nickel-based lithium-ion battery made with recycled materials is 74 kilograms of CO2e per kilowatt-hour—28% less than the 74 kilograms of CO2e per kilowatt-hour one made with virgin materials produces. 

No Mining-Related Consequences

Old cells contain all the minerals and metals needed to produce a like-new product. Lithium-ion battery recycling enables a reduced reliance on material extraction, meaning mining won’t contribute to biodiversity loss, land degradation or modern-day slavery. 

Moroever, lithium-ion batteries contain valuable transition metals like cobalt and nickel, which are costly due to being supply-constrained. These materials will become abundant when recycling becomes prevalent, lowering costs for manufacturers.

Fewer Virgin Batteries Produced

Lithium-ion battery recycling doesn’t just lower the supply of new batteries simply by existing. Recycled components outperform those made with virgin materials, reducing the need for production. One study found that a nickel-based lithium-ion cell retained 70% of its capacity after 11,600 cycles, 53% better than its newly assembled counterpart. 

Is Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Profitable?

Conventional lithium-ion battery recycling methods are expensive and don’t recapture all of the valuable material needed to produce new components. For instance, pyrometallurgy uses thermal treatment. The heat burns unwanted materials away, resulting in black mass—an ebony-colored, sand-like substance containing valuable cathode and anode materials.

Hydrometallurgy, the other conventional recycling method, mechanically shreds the battery pack and then uses chemicals to separate and reclaim valuable minerals and metals. Breaking down larger packs often requires painstaking, costly manual labor, making the process too inefficient and time-consuming for at-scale electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling. 

Conventional techniques are not viable at scale. One study found that the rate of lithium-ion battery recycling remains at less than 1%—the process is still inefficient enough to recover lithium for reuse. However, this problem is absolutely solvable. 

For now, the answer to the question “Is recycling lithium batteries profitable?” is a resounding “maybe.” While dozens of research papers have proposed promising novel recycling methods, few can be replicated at scale. Fortunately, with the Internet of Things and EV markets booming, sectors are investing in research and development to create a solution. 

3 Promising Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Startups 

Each startup offers a novel technique to make lithium-ion battery recycling more affordable and efficient. 

1. American Battery Technology Company

The American Battery Technology Company created a closed-loop lithium-ion battery recycling technique that uses proprietary technologies to “demanufacture” packs. Instead of using brute force, like with pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy, it leverages a step-by-step separation process to recover end-of-life components at a substantially lower cost.

2. Ascend Elements

Ascend Elements achieves a recovery rate of up to 98% through its Hydro-to-Cathode method. Once spent lithium-ion batteries arrive at the facility, they are mechanically shredded. The resulting back mass is mixed into giant vats containing a proprietary mixture of chemicals to extract impurities. While still in liquid form, it is further refined to create new cathode materials.

3. Li-Cycle

Li-Cycle uses a two-step process based on hydrometallurgy to isolate the materials needed to produce batteries. After a proprietary mechanical shredding process—no discharging or dismantling is required—the resulting black mass follows the standard chemical refinement process to remove impurities. 

Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Is Key for Sustainability

Material reuse supports domestic production, making supply chains resilient to disruptions. It also reduces the adverse effects of mining, transport and processing. Whether or not recycling lithium batteries is profitable, it is necessary for a sustainable future. That said, the technology behind recycling is getting more advanced and affordable every day.