The important value of recycling lithium batteries

Waste lithium batteries have a high recycling value. For example, the most common lithium cobalt oxide battery contains cobalt, copper, aluminum, iron and other metals, of which cobalt accounts for about 15%. China's cobalt resources are scarce, the market demand is large, and it can only be imported from abroad. The recovery of lithium batteries can effectively alleviate this situation. According to statistics, if the waste lithium battery can be fully recycled, 240 tons of cobalt can be recycled each year, and this alone is worth more than 40 million. For example, the nickel content in the waste nickel-hydrogen battery is as high as 30~50%, the cobalt content is about 2~5%, and the rare earth content is 5~10%, which also has great recycling value.

However, unlike the waste lead storage battery, the lithium battery has a complicated structure and different specifications, and it is difficult to recycle and reuse. The recycling process of waste lithium batteries is complicated, and the lithium battery materials and formulations of different manufacturers are different. In addition, it is difficult to directly recover high-value materials such as positive and negative materials from waste lithium batteries, and it is difficult to produce direct commercial value.

Some experts have proposed the use of waste lithium batteries, that is, lithium batteries are first used in power sources such as automobiles, and they cannot be used as energy storage after several years. The use of ladders is theoretically feasible, but due to the lack of uniform standards in the power energy industry and the energy storage industry, the current feasibility is not large.

Although the recycling of lithium batteries is facing many difficulties, it also faces unprecedented opportunities.

First of all, China Automotive Technology and Research Center predicts that by 2020, China's electric vehicle power battery cumulative scrap will reach 120,000 to 170,000 tons. It can be seen that the recycling of waste lithium batteries has a broad market.

Second, the support of national policies has also greatly promoted the recycling and reuse of lithium batteries. The State Council issued the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)" as early as 2012, emphasizing the need to formulate power battery recycling management methods and establish power battery cascade utilization and recycling management system.

Finally, the secondary use of power batteries is a global trend. In foreign countries, large auto manufacturers have entered the waste lithium battery recycling industry and started to use the new energy power battery for secondary use. It is estimated that the profit of the global energy storage industry will reach 19 billion US dollars in 2017.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.