Supporting a Lithium Circular Economy via Reverse Logistics: Improving the Preprocessing Stage of the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Supply Chain

The clean energy transition is a paradigm shift from a carbon-intensive energy system to a renewable energy one. The new energy system requires large amounts of critical minerals, including lithium. However, the mining and extraction of these minerals introduces environmental challenges. Recycling critical minerals, a critical step for a circular economy, is a potential solution that could reduce the need for new mining, lowering the overall environmental impact. In this experimentally based work, we evaluate the lithium recycling labor- and cost-intensive preprocessing stage that is currently performed by large-scale recycling systems, reducing the efficiency and raising the costs of the downstream stages. We investigate multiple inexpensive and distributed alternatives to the preprocessing tasks that produce black mass (separation, grinding, and shredding techniques) in order to identify methods that improve the efficiency of the downstream recycling process. This work finds that shredding and grinding end-of-life batteries with equipment that can be purchased for under USD 1000 produces viable black mass for a fraction of the cost. Therefore, this work contributes toward the goal of a circular economy for battery energy storage by identifying the technical requirements and measuring the efficacy of redistributing the labor- and time-intensive preprocessing tasks to small-scale recyclers in order to enhance the efficiency of the downstream stages in the lithium-ion battery recycling reverse supply chain.