A regionalized life cycle and economic assessment of closed-loop lithium-ion battery recycling: a case study from Quebec, Canada

• Regionalized LCA evaluates closed-loop LIB recycling for Quebec’s low-carbon grid. • LIB manufacturing with hydrometallurgical recycling lowers impacts and costs. • Direct recycling shows lowest modeled impacts but is not yet commercially mature. • Low recycled content limits GWP reduction, while higher content reduces impacts. Government policies often support transport electrification; for example, Québec targets two million electric vehicles by 2030. While electric vehicles are critical to decarbonization, lithium-ion batteries require end-of-life strategies to reduce e-waste and support environmental sustainability. We examine the environmental consequences of closed-loop recycling for lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles in Quebec using a regionalized life cycle approach. Geospatially representative results are achieved by integrating Quebec-specific costs, supply chain distances, emission factors, and electricity data. Our case study examines NMC622 cathodes and evaluates the avoided burden from using recycled materials. We quantify costs, energy use, water consumption, key air pollutants, and global warming potential (GWP), comparing virgin manufacturing to three recycling pathways (pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and direct). Compared with virgin manufacturing, using recycled materials reduces energy use by 26–46%, key air pollutants by 40–93%, and GWP by 0.8–23%. The avoided burden further reduces energy use by 5.6–29%, key air pollutants by 5.8–44%, and GHG by 5.7–40% for the recycling pathways under investigation. Pyrometallurgical recycling was costliest (+2.1%), whereas hydrometallurgical and direct recycling reduced costs by 12% and 24% compared to virgin manufacturing. Pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling increased water consumption by 30% and 37% related to higher electricity demand and Quebec’s hydropower-dominant grid. Using a customized EverBatt model, our case study quantifies the environmental benefits of closed-loop recycling in Quebec with a broad applicable approach to identifying environmentally favorable conditions across diverse regions.