Battery knowledge · Recycling and end of life
Closed-loop recycling
Recycling in which the recovered material goes back into the same kind of product, battery metals into new cathodes rather than into steel or other markets. A closed-loop claim can be made per element, per material or per company, and is only as strong as the mass balance behind it.
Example
A closed-loop claim needs enough returned packs
8 t of NMC 622 holds 2907 kg of nickel. 100 returned packs of 34 kg nickel cover it from a chain recovery of 85.5 %.
Only nickel is tested here; the study tests the element that limits the claimed cathode. Production scrap and other recycled feed are outside the claim.
Explore the graph
To make a claimed mass of cathode from returned packs, the packs must hold enough of the limiting element at the recovery the whole route achieves.
8 t of NMC 622 holds 2907 kg of nickel. 100 returned packs of 34 kg nickel cover it from a chain recovery of 85.5 %.
N_needed = m_claim × w_Ni / (m_Ni per pack × R)
Illustrative model. Only nickel is tested here; the study tests the element that limits the claimed cathode. Production scrap and other recycled feed are outside the claim.
Use in Lemonergy
Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.
This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.
References & further reading
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Topic background · Battery construction, recycling routes and U.S. waste-management context.
- Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles
Gavin Harper et al. · Nature · 2019
Topic background · Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.