Recycling

Life Cycle of Lithium Iron Phosphate LFP This review by J. Yan et al summarizes the life cycle of LFP, noting the key economic and environmental advantages that can be achieved using a direct regeneration recycling approach, as opposed to older pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling methods. Spent LFP, after its first, second, or multiple cascading uses, may be direct recycled through either extraction from the cell, separation, and processing, or through simply supplementing a cellʼs lithium inventory. Specific mechanisms for LFP degradation are reviewed and used to explain the pros and cons of these various direct recycling strategies. The status of various direct recycling and upcycling of LFP into LMFP technologies are summarized, with alternative directions discussed.

LFP batteries retain value throughout their life cycle - from use and cascade reuse to end-of-life recycling, with direct regeneration enabling the most economical and sustainable closure of the loop. Many possible direct regeneration approaches exist.

A The full life cycle of LFP power batteries. B Schematic diagram of three recycling methods for spent LFP batteries: pyrometallurgy Pyro-, hydrometallurgy Hydro-, and direct regeneration Direct. C Radar charts of three recycling methods for spent LFP batteries: pyrometallurgy (“Pyro-ˮ), hydrometallurgy (“Hydro-ˮ), and direct regeneration (“Directˮ).

Source: J. Yan, J. Qian, Y. Li, L. Li, F. Wu, R. Chen, Toward Sustainable Lithium Iron Phosphate in Lithium-Ion Batteries: Regeneration Strategies and Their Challenges. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 34, 2405055.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.