Creation of an LCA Model for Pretreatment Processes in Lithium-ion Battery Recycling

Since their commercialization, Lithium-Ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely employed across diverse applications, including electric vehicles and energy storage systems. Rapid expansion of usage is expected to generate high volumes of end-of-life batteries. Consequently, the development of sustainable recycling strategies is environmentally essential. In this context, this study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of pretreatment processes in LIB recycling. The developed LCA model integrates five major recycling routes identified across European facilities through modelling of in-and outputs according to an average LIB dataset. The results identify Climate Change as the dominant impact category, followed by Acidification and Freshwater Ecotoxicity. Emissions from thermal and disposal processes¿particularly CO¿, NO¿, SO¿, and fine particulate matter¿were found to be the primary contributors to the overall impact, with incineration, calcination, and landfilling playing key roles. Despite providing valuable insights, the study highlights through systematic analysis several limitations, including outdated data, generalized process modelling, and uncertainties related to data quality and system boundaries.