Executive Summary: Battery Recycling Energy and GHG Intensity

Battery recycling provides a significant opportunity to build domestic mineral caches for EV manufacturing


  • From 2023 to 2040, global demand for lithium will grow 870%, 210% for nickel, 390% for graphite, and 220% for cobalt (IEA)
  • The U.S., EU, and China are recycling batteries’ minerals with 22% less energy and 46% fewer emissions compared to mining (Argonne)
  • Battery recycling has three technologies that will be influential:
    • Direct Recycling: TRL 4/5, restoration of battery materials for reuse in batteries or energy storage, requires extensive sorting
    • Hydrometallurgy: TRL 8, liquid recovery of all minerals, produces liquid waste, high process GHG footprint due to chemical reagents required
    • Pyrometallurgy: TRL 9, thermal recovery of nickel, cobalt, but not lithium, GHG emissions are more difficult to eliminate than hydrometallurgy 
  • Multiple milestones to advance circularity and systemic impact: 
    • Improved collection infrastructure
    • Improved testing, sorting, and disassembly, preferably automated
    • Mandatory recycled content in new batteries
  • Battery manufacturers, automobile Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and refineries are creating localized recycling supply chains to feed the surging demand for battery materials
    • Chemical companies like BASF and Johnson Matthey entering in hydrometallurgy to fill large chemical demand
    • Automobile OEMs will develop direct recycling seeking higher returns on existing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mandates 
Battery_Recycling_Energy_and_GHG_Intensity-transformed

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