Remanufacturing, Repurposing, and Recycling of Post-Vehicle-Application Lithium-Ion Batteries

As lithium-ion batteries are an efficient energy storage mechanism, their use in vehicles is increasing to support electrification to meet increasing average mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas emission standards. Principles of environmentalism and sustainability suggest the development of processes for the remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling of post-vehicle-application lithium-ion batteries. Proprietary commercial processes for remanufacturing for reuse in vehicles require safe battery testing that is supported by a newly developed workbench. Repurposing, with a focus on stationary energy storage applications and the development of battery management systems, is demonstrated. Recycling to recover the battery component materials using manual disassembly and acid leaching at relatively low temperatures and in short time periods is shown to be effective. A cost benefit-analysis shows that remanufacturing is profitable. Repurposing is profitable if the development cost is no more than $83/kWh to $114/kWh, depending on research and development expenses. Recycling, driven by environmental and sustainability principles, is not profitable in isolation. The cost of recycling must be borne by remanufacturing and repurposing. A forecasting model shows that the number of post-vehicle-application lithium-ion batteries will be sufficient to support remanufacturing, repurposing, and recycling.

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