Lithium in Energy Storage: A Comprehensive Review of Its Extraction, Utilisation, and Sustainability

Lithium (Li) batteries have been part of any citizen’s daily life for about 30 years, although the knowledge about their potential dates to the early XX century. Being present in a wide range of applications, from small electronic appliances to hybrid or electric cars, Li has become essential to the most recent battery technology. In the need to change the harmful habits of fossil fuel usage, Li applications promise to provide a more sustainable way to deal with energy supply and improve energy storage devices efficiency. Resorting to Li carries the environmental burden of past battery technology since the materials used are well-known in the industry. Little changes have been made in Li battery manufacturing since it first became an industry, compromising its potential environmental benefits. The growing consumption drives efforts to extract Li and other scarce metals, but recycling rates are still too low for this industry to be considered a circular economy. Besides the quantifiable environmental indicators, many other intangible ones offer insight into the drawbacks and benefits of this emerging industry. In this study, the life cycle of Li-based energy storage devices is put into perspective from Li itself extraction, processing, and recycling. It was possible to identify many process variables in the Li life cycle using studies published in the last fifteen years, which can immediately reduce this promising technology’s environmental footprint. Besides immediate improvements, recycling has proven to be a highly efficient way to recover and reuse enormous amounts of Li and other materials in battery manufacturing. Beyond Li usage, a significant effort should be made to improve the supply of the remaining materials in a battery. This work intends to provide a comprehensive analysis using structured information about the Li life cycle, helping to understand the benefits and drawbacks of the intensive use of this kind of metal.