Lithium battery recycling needs to break through the five major bottlenecks

The lithium battery pack recycling market is not ideal, and the five major bottlenecks need to be broken through. Lithium battery packs can be regarded as the peak period for recycling and reuse this year, but the recycling and reuse of lithium batteries has not been a perfect solution, resulting in many batteries still wasting a lot of renewable resources. How to recycle safely, deal with environmental protection, and strengthen the standardized recycling of used power batteries has become a world-class problem.

The reuse and recycling of lithium battery packs will bring huge economic income to the new energy market. my country’s power batteries will usher in a 'scrap tide' by 2020 The annual scrap volume will exceed 248,000 tons. Lithium electric vehicles used in China's new energy vehicles, due to the technical level and frequency of use restrictions, are designed to have an effective service life of about 3 years, and they need to be replaced after 3 years. 2018 is the first year for the recycling of lithium battery packs for new energy vehicles, and my country's new energy vehicle power batteries will enter a large-scale retirement stage.

The five major bottlenecks encountered by lithium battery packs need to be broken through:

I. Uncertain lithium battery pack recycling mode

Despite a difficult start, the industry is generally optimistic about the prospects. On the whole, the current large-scale 'decommissioning tide' of power batteries has not yet arrived, and it is difficult for the dismantling and recycling of power batteries to form a large-scale effect.

For example, some car companies choose to cooperate with other companies to jointly promote domestic power battery recycling and other related matters. 16 vehicle and battery companies, including Changan, BYD, and Yinlong New Energy, have reached cooperation with China Tower Corporation, a major power battery recycling company, to solve problems such as the recycling and reuse of decommissioned power batteries. But the overall recycling model has not yet been determined.

Second, the main body of lithium battery pack recovery is absent

According to the characteristics of power batteries and the principle of recycling, my country’s current Advocate the principle of cascading use of retired power batteries before scrapping and recycling, and require vehicle companies to take the responsibility of power battery recycling as the main body of power battery recycling. However, since most vehicle companies are only electric vehicle 'assembly plants; The second category is battery production companies; the third category is power battery scrap recycling and processing companies and raw material companies.

According to regulations, auto companies should bear the main responsibility for recycling, but auto companies are not omnipotent. To a certain extent, car companies are more like 'assembly factories' of electric vehicles. They are responsible for the normal use of lithium battery packs, production and supply, secondary utilization, and recycling during the warranty period, but they are the expertise of battery companies. Unfortunately, battery companies are often excluded from the recycling system, and their responsibilities are currently unclear.

3. The bottleneck of lithium battery pack recycling technology needs to be broken

Due to the complex composition, the recycling and reuse of power batteries faces many restrictions And a higher technical threshold. There are considerable differences in the types, specifications, and processes of retired batteries, and there are diversity in series and parallel group forms, application models, use time and working conditions, resulting in complex disassembly. At the same time, my country has not issued a unified standard for power batteries, and it is still difficult to use them on a large scale.

From the perspective of recycling batteries, even if it is a lithium battery pack, the positive electrode material is also diverse. The mainstream ones include lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganate, lithium nickel cobalt manganate, Lithium iron phosphate, etc. Leach with acid-base solution, and then go through a variety of chemical procedures to extract metal oxides. However, the extraction conditions of the components of these oxides are different, and the mixed solution is more difficult.

Four. The supporting and binding force of policies and regulations is not enough

Industry insiders stated that China has formulated the 'Hazardous Waste Pollution Prevention and Control Technical Policy' and 'Technical Policy for Waste Battery Pollution Prevention and Control'. In 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission took the lead in formulating the 'New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Recycling Technology Policy'. In 2017, the National Standards Committee issued the national standard 'Automotive Power Battery Recycling and Dismantling Technology specification'. These policies and technical standards are all guiding or recommended guidance documents, which have a reference and guidance function for key enterprises with standardized business operations, but have no binding effect on illegal traders.

Five. Recycling technology is lagging in processing

The entire process of recycling and processing of waste power lithium battery packs includes discharge, disassembly, Dozens of complex steps, such as crushing, sorting, impurity removal, and element synthesis, involve multiple interdisciplinary disciplines such as physics, chemistry, materials, and engineering, and the technology is complicated and lengthy. At present, many developed countries, including Germany, the United States, and Japan, are actively supporting and promoting the engineering research and development of common key technologies in this field. However, my country lags behind its international counterparts in terms of power battery recycling and processing technology.

In response to the above problems, the entire battery market should further explore how to safely and efficiently realize the echelon utilization of lithium battery packs, establish a benign recovery system that can be monitored throughout the process, and explore the echelon of power batteries Use technology to realize the recycling of lithium battery packs as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary environmental pollution.