Research on Spent LiFePO4 Electric Vehicle Battery Disposal and Its Life Cycle Inventory Collection in China

The main research direction for the disposal of spent lithium-ion batteries is focused on the recovery of precious metals. However, few studies exist on the recycling of LiFePO4 electric vehicle (EV) batteries because of their low recycling value. In addition, a detailed life cycle inventory (LCI) of waste plays a significant role in its life cycle assessment (LCA) for an environmental perspective. In this study, an end-of-life (EOL) LiFePO4 EV battery is disposed to achieve the LCI result. The approach comprises manual dismantling of the battery pack/module and crushing and pyrolysis of cells. The authors classify the dismantling results and use different disposal methods, such as recycling or incineration. Regarding the environmental emissions during pyrolysis, the authors record and evaluate the results according to the experimental data, the bill of materials (BOM), the mass conservation, and the chemical reaction equations. In addition, the electricity power demand is related to the electricity mix in China, and the waste gases and solid residue are treated by using neutralization and landfill, respectively. Finally, the authors integrate the LCI data with analysis data and a background database (Ecoinvent). After the integration of the total emission and consumption data, the authors obtained the total detailed LCI resulting from the disposal of the LiFePO4 vehicle battery. This LCI mainly includes the consumption of energy and materials, and emissions to air, water, and soil, which can provide the basis for the future LCA of LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries. Furthermore, the potential of industrial scale process research on the disposal of spent LiFePO4 batteries is discussed.