Recycling of Batteries and Electronics

Elsevier, 22nd June 2020

High-tech products like batteries and electronics contain a variety of valuable, scarce, and in some cases potentially harmful materials, but in only a few exceptional cases (such as lead-acid batteries) is the material being recovered efficiently. Cotributing to SDGs 7, 9 and 12, this special issue seeks to elucidate the technical and institutional difficulties inherent in recycling these products and provide a forum for sharing potential ways to overcome them. 

Elsevier,

Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 23, April 2020

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have an established role in the consumer electronics markets with minimum risk of replacement from any other contender in the near future. The recent momentum towards electric vehicles and the renewable energy storage market is creating an increased demand for LIBs. The large amount of hazardous waste generated from the disposal of LIBs is driving research into a sustainable approach for LIB treatment and recovery. The positive electrode active materials being the main targeted component as it is the greatest cost contributor to LIBs production.

Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 23, April 2020
Although deployments of grid-scale stationary lithium ion battery energy storage systems are accelerating, the environmental impacts of this new infrastructure class are not well studied. To date, a small literature of environmental life cycle assessments (LCAs) and related studies has examined associated environmental impacts, but they rely on a variety of methods and system boundaries rather than a consistent approach.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 22, December 2019
The utilization of existing metallurgical infrastructure and integration of secondary process streams into primary metals production can provide advantages over separate recycling plants. This paper focuses on the integration of a pregnant leach solution (PLS) into a nickel production plant that contains Ni, Co, Zn, Mn, Fe, Al and Cd ions, derived from a NiMH recycling stream.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 21, September 2019
Waste multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), containing BaTiO 3 , Ag, Pd, Ni and Sn etc., are valuable secondary resource. The existing recycling process has great challenges when considering environmentally friendly and efficient separation and recovery of resources. From a new perspective of resource recycling, we directly utilized the complex components of waste MLCCs as a Nb–Pb codoped and Ag-Pd-Sn-Ni loaded BaTiO 3 nano-photocatalyst through one-step ball milling process. The as-prepared photocatalyst exhibited superior photocatalytic performance.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 22, December 2019
The development of mass-market electric vehicles (EVs) using lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is helping to propel growth in LIB usage, but end-of-life strategies for LIBs are not well developed. An important aspect of waste LIB processing is the stabilisation of such high energy-density devices, and energy discharge is an obvious way to achieve this. Salt-water electrochemical discharge is often mentioned as the initial step in many LIB recycling studies, but the details of the process itself have not often been mentioned.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 19, April 2019
Lithium ion batteries (LIB) continue to gain market share in response to the increasing demand for electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and energy storage. The increased demand for LIB has highlighted potential problems in the supply chain of raw materials needed for their manufacture. Some critical metals used in LIB, namely lithium, cobalt, and graphite are scarce, are not currently mined in large quantities, or are mined in only a few countries whose trade policies could limit availability and impact prices.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 17, September 2018
An ability to separate battery electrode materials while preserving functional integrity is essential to close the loop of material use in lithium-ion batteries. However, a low-energy and low-cost separation system that selectively recovers electrode materials has not yet been established. In this study, froth flotation experiments were carried out with a variety of new and spent lithium-ion batteries using kerosene as the collector. The products were characterized using thermogravimetric and chemical analysis.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 17, September 2018

There is a need to develop technology to enable a resource-efficient and economically feasible recycling system for lithium-ion batteries and thus assure the future supply of the component materials. Lithium-ion batteries are complex products, and designs and materials are still evolving, which makes planning for future recovery more challenging. Several processes for recycling are proposed or operating, and each has advantages and disadvantages. This paper compares these processes on technical and economic bases, elucidating differences in benefits as a function of cathode composition.

Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 17, September 2018
Waste Li foils in the spent experimental Li-coin-cells may bring the potential risk and the waste of Li-resource if they aren't reasonably treated in time. For this purpose, waste Li foils were recycled in the form of black LiFePO4/C powders with the recovery of about 80% in this work.