Recycling and Regeneration of Lithium Batteries

Lead acid batteries used to be the most used battery type a few years ago, but now the dynamics have changed. Today almost everything around us that uses rechargeable batteries uses lithium batteries. The lithium metal is paired up with other metals to produce the battery.

However, these batteries have a specific life span for which we can use them, and afterward, these are ready to be replaced. The older batteries can be recycled to a certain extent, bringing multiple benefits.

Can lithium batteries be regenerated?

The huge application scope of lithium batteries in our lives makes us rely on these batteries for most electronics. However, the waste increases with the increasing amount of usage. That’s why we have been developing multiple ways to recycle the materials from these batteries and regenerate the battery. The good part is that it is possible and brings multiple benefits.

Recovery of non-renewable resources

One of the biggest factors in the cost of these batteries is extracting non-renewable resources from the earth. Everything adds to the final product's price, from digging to refining and transporting those resources. These include:

Lithium

Cobalt

Nickel

Copper, etc.

So, with recycling, the biggest benefit is recovering those resources.

Safer for the Environment

Lithium batteries are among the biggest contributors to e-waste when considering rechargeable batteries. The worst part is that these batteries create toxic waste that harms the land and the water. So, when these batteries are recycled and regenerated, toxic waste is significantly reduced, making our planet much cleaner.

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Cheap and Easy Recycling Process

Recycling is not considered the easiest and cheapest option in many cases, but it is cheap and easy when it comes to batteries. Because battery waste is free, people often submit their batteries to recycling facilities. Secondly, recycling is easy because the battery has to go through a specific process where elements are extracted individually without the huge influence of labor.

Fewer Dangers of Old Batteries Exploding

Lithium batteries are known for exploding and catching fire, especially when not used. That’s why the old batteries must not be stored in homes. So, when more people submit their old lithium batteries for recycling, the chances of such harmful events will significantly decrease.

How are lithium batteries recycled? 

One of the most asked questions about lithium batteries is whether these can be recycled or not. The reason why many people ask such questions is due to the percentage of batteries being recycled being so little. However, the process itself is cheaper and simpler than recycling most materials, and it is done in 3 simple steps disused below.

Shredding the Battery

The first part of this process involves shredding batteries. Usually, when recycling things, human labor is used to separate the materials. However, opening these batteries is considered harmful, so the whole batteries are shredded with a machine. The batteries are ground to a powder form ready for different chemical procedures for extracting different materials.

Extracting Individual Elements

Now the powder remains of the batteries are used for extracting different elements. Different procedures are used for the process, in which the 2 most common ones include smelting and dissolving in acid. One thing to consider here is that every battery has expensive metals like cobalt and some cheap metal like lithium.

The expensive ones are extracted since they sell quickly, while the cheaper ones aren't motivated to recycle them.

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Creating New Batteries With Those Elements

Once the individual elements are extracted from the battery waste, they are sold, and the buyers use them when producing their new batteries. Since expensive metals can be bought cheaply through the recycling process compared to extracting them from the earth, it impacts the production cost and quality of these batteries.

This difference between the materials of a battery is why cobalt is among the most recycled metals from lithium batteries.

Can lithium batteries be 100% recycled?

The bad thing about lithium batteries being recycled is that they are not 100% recyclable. There are some technical difficulties, and apart from those, some metals being cheaper when mined by the earth leave no motivation for recycling them. That is why lithium batteries are only 95% recyclable as of now.

What makes lithium batteries recyclable?

Lithium batteries use different metals in their production. These metals include cobalt, nickel, and lithium, most commonly. On average, a lithium battery is designed to last for around 2-5 years since it has a limited charge cycle life. However, the good part is that the life of those metals in the lithium battery is much more than that. So, even when the battery stops working, those materials can be recycled and used again to make the same batteries with new materials. That battery with old metals will still perform like a new one. Hence these batteries are recyclable to 95%.

How many batteries are currently recycled in the world?

Lithium batteries are used in multiple variations with different metals. One of the most used types is the lithium-ion battery. If we consider the statistics for recycling these batteries only, only 5% of these batteries are recycled, which means that millions of tons of battery waste are still going into landfills.

What will happen if we start recycling all of the lithium batteries?

Lithium batteries can currently be recycled. Up to 95% of a battery will still go to waste. Currently, we recycle a little percentage of the total lithium batteries on the planet. If we start recycling all the batteries, they will become much cheaper, and millions of tons of battery waste will be saved from going into landfills and water bodies.

Conclusion

Batteries add up to a lot of toxic waste to the environment that is not treated in any way, and it keeps polluting the land and water bodies. With this high usage of lithium batteries, recycling them can solve a lot of problems. 

Recycling and regenerating these batteries can solve most of the wastage problems caused by lithium batteries, and recycling services are also available. However, since many batteries still end up in waste, it is high time to spread awareness about recycling them.