Between 2020 and 2030, the demand for energy storage will rise by 418GWh

A decomposer at IHSMarkit said that the establishment of an effective recycling ecosystem will more or less be in the interests of every member of the'extensive lithium battery supply chain'. This week, recycling became a major theme at the Energy Storage Virtual Summit hosted by our publisher SolarMedia Events Department. Most stationary energy storage lithium batteries used for solar power, backup power, or grid balancing services only operate for a relatively short period of time, but when a large number of systems begin to reach the end of life (EOL), future issues must be considered. When analyzing the current status and prospects of lithium battery recycling and utilization, Chloe Holzinger, senior energy storage decomposition engineer of the research company, said that from raw materials to components, equipment processing to end users, all stakeholders involved are in favor of the possibility of recycling. Have a strong interest. Especially raw material and cathode processors, they see recycling as a potential source of additional income, and their direct competitors may also be recyclers that start to process cathode materials straight. Holzinger proposed that policies and regulations that encourage and foster a recycling ecosystem will help, given that there are fewer batteries available for recycling before 2030. Holzinger’s colleague Youmin Rong at IHSMarkit is a senior resolver in the field of clean energy technology. Rong said that by 2030, in the fields of electric vehicles, grid energy storage and portable electronic products, 600GWh batteries will reach EOL; by 2050, this number will exceed 2.5TWh. The rising demand for batteries in the automotive sector alone will make the 'recycling industry a must.' Since the battery capacity required for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems far exceeds the battery capacity of portable electronic products such as smartphones, 'Compared with any time in the past, a large-scale lithium-ion recycling industry is needed.' IHSMarkit predicts that between 2020 and 2030, battery demand will rise as follows: Optimistic about recycling profitability YouminRong said that in view of the expected end of life, the number of recyclable batteries will rise 'faster and fasterParticipants are “optimistic” about the profitability of recycling. In a short period of time, cobalt and nickel are the key drivers of the new recycling business, especially for Europe, which relies on these imported raw materials. Rong also pointed out that many people are concerned about cobalt supply Concerns about the chain. About 60% of the world’s cobalt reserves come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where sometimes (though not always) a human rights accountability system is lacking, and there are problems including the use of child labor and worker safety. The event was held later in the same day In the panel discussion, Kunal Phalpher, chief commercial officer of lithium battery recycling startup Li-Cycle, said that the commercial viability of recycling batteries is getting higher and higher. Phalpher said that he has indeed pointed out that in a short period of time, regulatory forces are driving some areas. Recycling, but it may not be necessary to introduce policies related to incentives.'Over time, you will reach a point-recycling becomes more cost-effective, or a cost-neutral approach, is also possible A very attractive approach to decommissioning more than 10 years of energy storage systems.' Demand for key raw materials continues to drive battery recycling, or more accurately, what Li-Cycle Chief Commercial Officer calls resource recycling. This means that the US federal government and the European Union have included lithium and other materials including cobalt and nickel on the list of key raw materials. Especially in Europe, the local raw material resources are very few, so resource recycling is a way to create secondary supply. Li-Cycle is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The company's two recycling plants in Rochester, New York are about to be completed and put into operation. The company adopted a two-step process-mechanically crushing EOL battery packs, and then using hydrometallurgical technology to recycle materials. The recovered materials include the so-called'substantia nigra', which contains materials for the cathode and anode. Most importantly, Phalpher said that the recycled materials are equivalent to the materials processed in the raw material extraction process, and compared with the use of extracted raw materials, resource recycling can help create new equipment with a lower carbon footprint. On yesterday’s Tesla Battery Day, the company’s leadership mentioned that for these and other reasons, early investment in recycling is very important. Chloe Holzinger of IHSMarkit once pointed out that New York State’s support for Li-Cycle is a rare case of the U.S. government encouraging recycling supply chains. Other regions around the world are also formulating policies that support the recycling or mandatory recycling of lithium batteries. For example, my country stipulates that automakers must be responsible for battery recycling, and Europe is planning to introduce a battery passport, which can track all components and systems through a central ledger account. As far as grid energy storage is concerned, the project owner is the owner of the battery, which means that the owner holds the ownership of the raw materials. CatherineHelleux, another panel member of this conference and an investor in renewable energy projects and subsequent energy storage projects, said that EOL costs must always be considered when making investment decisions. Regarding projects that may continue for 15 to 20 years, the cost of renovation and recycling is still an unknown number. Helleux said that the uncertainty of the price makes recycling “not that cheap”, but as the cost of technology drops, raw materials Become scarce, from an economic point of view, recycling is imperative. Disclaimer: Some pictures and content of articles published on this site are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete.