Comprehensive evaluation on production and recycling of lithium-ion batteries: A critical review

The whole industry chain of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has gained worldwide attention because of their important role in energy storage and electric vehicles. The purpose of this research is to systematically overview the evaluation methodologies for LIBs industry. Under this basis, carbon emission intensity in the whole industry is understood, and the development trend can be presumed. Herein, an efficient zero-pollution, low-carbon process, and green manufacturing evaluation methodology for the whole LIBs industry chain are proposed. To improve the comprehensive evaluation efficiency, the battery structure, design parameters, material composition in the production process and material source, recycling methods and battery types in the recovery process are considered. The investigation shows that environmental impact can mainly be attributed to the production and use stages, which reached 12–15% and 80% respectively in the whole industry chain. The average profit of recycling waste batteries is more than 10%, which is conductive to the development of recycling industry. Based on this situation, a 4 A multi-angle comprehensive evaluation system, considering environmental impact assessment, resource criticality assessment, economic analysis and materials flow analysis, can be established by implementing the developmental mode of resource cyclic utilization. It is expected that this research could provide a guideline for the comprehensive evaluation for LIBs and stimulate further discussions on sustainable development and low-carbon technology improvement.