Closing the loop on Li-ion: why recycling matters for the future of battery tech

In the timeline of scientific advancement, it is hard to overstate the societal impact of the development of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The advent of this high power-to-weight energy storage technology facilitated the rise of small portable electronics, and a global market estimated to be worth over $400 bn. From laptops to phones, hearing aids to speakers, we capitalize on this technology every day, for which John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019.

Moving beyond consumer electronics and mod-cons, however, this technology still has much to offer. Finite reserves of crude oil and natural gas, along with the environmental impact of their combustion, necessitate innovation in renewable energy. The often cited, though willfully ignorant, criticism of solar energy on overcast days, or wind power from unstirring skies, requires a firm rebuttal. Similarly, the phasing out of fuel-burning vehicles of yester-year must be made viable through the ready availability of, first: safe, second: efficient, and third: affordable electrical alternatives. The suitability of lithium-ion technology to this task has been somewhat demonstrated in recent years, with over one-quarter of all new vehicles sold in 2024 in ever-forward-thinking California being fully electric and zero-emission, according to the California Energy Commission.

If lithium-ion batteries are to be successfully employed in the automotive and grid-energy sectors, then their supply chain must be closely scrutinized. Unfortunately, like the ancient Ouroboros, the scientific community is faced with an eerily familiar conundrum. The problem can be laid out as such: we have globally finite sources of lithium and other key materials like cobalt; lithium-ion batteries have a finite lifetime; currently, at the end of their usable life they predominantly end up in landfill where leaching of toxic fluoride-based chemicals and fires pose significant risk; we mine more scarce lithium and cobalt to replace it. Over 250 tonnes of the lithium-containing mineral ore spodumene, LiAl(SiO₃)₂, or 750 tonnes of lithium-rich brine are needed to produce just one tonne of usable lithium, enough for approximately 80 vehicles. An even greater concern regards the multifarious social, ethical and environmental issues surrounding the supply chain of toxic cobalt. Inhomogeneous crustal distribution means that most cobalt-rich ore is sourced from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, placing unjust social and environmental burdens on some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Despite the clear and immediate need for recycling, less than 5% of existing lithium-ion batteries are escaping landfill, according to figures published by the American Chemical Society in C&EN. This is due, in large part, to limited financial incentive relating to the difficulty of recovering sizable quantities of valuable materials. Recycling starts with discharging, shredding and sieving batteries to separate key components. The resulting “black mass” is treated thermally to remove organics, followed by a complex range of hydrometallurgical methods aiming to recover valuable metals. However, there remains a lack of industry standardization in the design and assembly of batteries, as well as little consideration towards their future recyclability. While manufacturers continue to employ a vast range of materials, additives, binders and casings to maximize their product performance, they decrease the efficiency, and therefore profit margin, of recycling processes.

Recent efforts to boost lithium-ion battery recycling have come in the form of awards and funding initiatives. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy created its first $15 million Li-ion battery recycling R&D center, ReCell, headquartered at Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, with the aim of reducing U.S. reliance on foreign sources of crucial battery materials. In addition to this, the DOE also initiated a $5.5 million Battery Recycling Prize to encourage innovative solutions from industry partners and academia. Not to be outdone, the UK’s Faraday Institution currently coordinates 50 academic researchers and 14 industry partners in their ReLiB project, led by the University of Birmingham.

In the meantime, until the research can catch up, key policy makers must decide: either impose financial sanctions on companies whose products do not lend themselves to future recycling, and risk foreign imports dominating this market space, or provide government subsidies to companies recycling these products until the research can catch up. Either way, we must consider all possible ways to break the cycle of single-use consumerism in favor of one of long-term sustainability.