Safety in lithium-ion battery recycling: Tracking the materials of concern

Following the increasing deployment of lithium-ion cells, plants designed to recycle these batteries are now being built at significant rates. There are a variety of failure modes for lithium-ion batteries which could lead to fire and generation of toxic and/or flammable gases, amongst other hazards. Many of those failure modes could be initiated by some of the processes typically used in battery recycling, particularly a shredding process. This paper provides both a compendium of background technical information and suggests a method for operators to evaluate how the materials of greatest concern are likely to pass through the steps of their recycling process, and their eventual fate. This, coupled with an actual demonstration that the fate of the materials of concern is as predicted, would enable the operator, regulators, and wider society to have confidence that any risks generated by this recycling are both understood and adequately controlled.