RECYCLING AND REUSING OF USED

LITHIUM ION BATTERIES

1
Jisha R Krishnan, 2Ramesh P
1
UG Scholar, Department of ECE, College of Engineering Munnar.
2
Associate Professor, Department of ECE, College of Engineering Munnar.
1
jisha.rk123@gmail.com, 2rap@ieee.org

Abstract: The e-waste management has got much
importance in the present life. In order to reduce the
hazardous effects of the e-wastes, their proper
management is necessary. The outdated mobile
phones and the Lithium ion batteries increase the
amount of e-waste and its improper disposal causes
environmental pollutions. This document describes
about the methods and processes included in the
recycling and reusing of the Lithium ion batteries.
The recycling of the batteries results in the
extraction of the metals and minerals from it by
physical and chemical processes. These minerals can
be used to manufacture new batteries and this in turn
result in the savings in the natural resources. The
batteries which can be used again are used to
manufacture power banks. Used Lithium ion
batteries can also be used as the storage unit of the
solar powered lighting system, which in turn reduces
the cost of the system.
Keywords: Lithium ion batteries, recycling, reuse,
power banks.
I. Introduction:
Nowadays the amount of e-wastes is increasing.
The disposal and management of these kinds of
waste is very difficult. Simply burning of e-
wastes causes poisonous gases or green houses
gases which in turn causes harm to the
environment. Hence to reduce the amount of e-
wastes is that to find the items which can be
recycled and can be reused. The items which
cannot be reused again can be disposed
properly, and by recycling and reusing of the
electronic wastes, we can cut down the amount
of e-wastes [4]. Fast evolution in the field of
mobile phones leads to its premature
replacement for newer, faster, and variety
design. The outdated mobile phone increases the
amount of e-waste and improper disposal of
these causes environmental pollution and global
warming [5]. Due to the properties of the
lithium ion battery (LIB) that powers them, has
the life span of 3 years after recycling them. The
batteries which cannot be used again are given
to the recycling process [1].
This e-waste can be valued by giving to the
batteries a second life as energy storage for solar
lighting. In fact, it can be a real opportunity for
access to electricity in remote rural areas of
developing countries for low cost and quality
lighting. We show that the usage of recycled
mobile phone batteries associated with a solar
panel and a light emitting diode (LED) lamp can
be a good replacement for candles and kerosene
lamps that are hazardous and only give poor
lighting quality. Such a replacement can be done
for a much lower cost than current expenses,
better quality of light and contributes to poverty
alleviation and jobs creation. This overcomes
the challenges of cost and durability in small
off-grid photovoltaic systems [2].
 II. Structure of lithium-ion rechargeable
battery
A LIB comprises a cathode, an anode, organic
electrolyte, and a separator. The lamination of a
cathode, an anode, and a separator by a pressing
makes those electric contacts. The anode is a
copper plate coated with a mixture of carbon
graphite, conductor, PVDF binder, and
additives. Similarly, the cathode is an aluminum
plate coated with a mixture of active cathode
material, electric conductor, PVDF binder, and
additives. LiCoO2 is commonly used as an
active cathodic material for almost all
commercialized LIBs due to its suitable
performances such as high energy density, ease
of manufacture, etc. The chemical reactions [1]
in the two electrodes can be simply expressed as
follows
The cathodic reaction:
6C+xLi+ +xe−⇔ C6Lix (1)
The anodic reaction:
LiCoO2⇔ Li (1−x) CoO2 +xLi+ +xe− (2)
Where the forward direction is the charge
reaction and the reverse is the discharge
reaction. The energy is stored in these batteries
through the movement of lithium ions from the
cathode to the anode (charge process of the
battery) or vice versa (discharge process) in the
eqn.3
LiCoO2 +6C ⇔ Li (1−x) CoO2 +C6Lix (3)
III. Recycling Process
According to the EU Battery directive the
recycling of batteries means “the processing of
waste batteries and accumulators for generation
of products that can be directly reused in battery
production or in other applications or process. It
excludes the possibilities of disposal or energy
recovery. Repair and reuse of the spent batteries
is impossible. Thus the only way of recycling is
the recovery of value materials. One third of the
production cost for a portable Li ion battery
cells are related to the materials. It contains high
amounts high amounts of valuable metals which
are present in the form of metals or inorganic
metallic compounds.
Mechanical processing plant for Li ion battery
cells, the batteries are crushed in CO2 gas
atmosphere. Thereby the volatile organic
electrolyte evaporates and is collected as
unstable condensate. As the lithium is very
reactive with moisture, the CO2 atmosphere will
isolate the lithium from air.
Figure 1: Battery Recycling and Reusing
In the figure 2, during the pretreatment the
Lithium ion battery packs are Li dissembled and
the single battery cells are laid open. Thereby a
material fraction which contains electronic parts
and plastics is generated. Due to the copper
content in this material fraction can be further
processed.

Figure 2: Recycling Techniques [3]
The second process step contains pyrolysis in a
resistance heated retort furnace at temperatures
of maximum 250˚C. the battery cells are
deactivated safely for further processing and the
volatile organic electrolyte evaporates and is
caught in a downstream condenser.
Third process step, the deactivated cells are
crushed safely in a second mill and in a
disintegrator. After crushing, sorting is done by
means of vibrating screen, magnetic separator in
a drum separator and air separation in a zig-zag
classifier. The separated fractions are provided
to the agglomeration side and the pellets are
then given to Pyrometallurgical processing
where the metals like Nickel Cobalt are
separated. Pyrometallurgical processing
includes graphite minimization and carbo-
reductive melting. The remaining slag is given
to hydrometallurgical processing where the
lithium is separated as lithium carbonate.
Hydrometallurgical process includes leaching
and precipitation.
IV. Battery issues in renewable
energy
Technically solar energy is often suggested as a
solution to provide electricity where it is
needed, especially in remote locations of
developing countries. Photovoltaic energy is
continuously proving itself efficient throughout
the world. The technology had known
tremendous evolution along with a huge price
drop making it more and more affordable. The
evolution in photovoltaic (PV) energy can be
attributed to the development of the individual
different parts of a standalone solar system and
the expansion of grid-tie systems. Nevertheless
the energy storage that largely remains based on
lead-acid batteries has not known much change
[1]. In fact the price of solar panels has
considerably dropped even if the technology is
still in general made of mono or polycrystalline
wafer based silicone solar cells. The thin film
solar panels are acquiring more and more
importance but are yet to be major players in the
energy market. The lighting technology has
changed from incandescent lamps to highly
efficient light emitting diode (LED) lamps with
a price continuously decreasing every year.
V. Recycling mobile phone batteries for
solar lighting
As an illustration, a single standard Li-ion
mobile phone battery of 1000 mAh capacity can
power a 1W LED lamp is shown in figure 3, for
about 3 h or a 0.5Wlamp with enough
brightness for reading or writing for about 6 h.
This can be a real support for populations greater autonomy will be obtained with a lower
particularly those below poverty line, especially wattage light or a larger battery pack.
students who can work in safer and healthier
conditions than with a candle or kerosene lamp.
It can as well assist some income generating
activities at night as street vending. Such a
lighting system can be recharged with a small
solar panel without any maintenance required.
The total manufacturing cost of such a complete
lighting system can be under $25, based on
prototypes built and tested by the authors, for a
lifespan of about 3 years without any
maintenance needed before the battery may Figure 3: Solar lighting system using Li ion batteries
need to be replaced. This can be applied for a
Li-ion batteries for mobile phone and other
full lighting system for a room with for example
portable devices contain many levels of
a common 5 W/12 V LED bulb as already
protection to assure safety under general
demonstrated by the authors in Ref. [2]. The Li-
circumstances when handled by the user (figure
ion cells can be assembled in series or parallel
4). Nevertheless, when assembled in a pack, an
depending on the targeted applications. The
external protection circuit is mandatory for
made battery pack can as well be used to charge
safety first and longer lifespan.
mobile phones instead of walking kilometers
and pay fees [2].  Optimization
In Fig. 3 we present the performance of a In order to maximize the batteries' capacity and
prototype system with a 5 W/12 V LED lamp prevent localized under-charging or over-
and a battery pack made of 3 Samsung Galaxy charging, the circuit will actively ensure that all
Note 2 batteries in series during discharge. In the cells that compose the battery pack are kept
the experiment we used 2012 batteries. The at the same voltage or state of charge, through
battery pack was initially fully charged under a balancing. The circuit can balance the cells for
constant voltage of 12.6 V with a solar panel (5 example by:
W/21 V) and a step down DC-DC converter.
The voltage of the battery pack initially at 12.4 • Distributing energy from the most
V was continuously measured with a computer charged cells to the least charged cells
operated system and recorded every minute till
• Reducing the charging current to a
the light went off at 9.01 V after 287 min of
sufficiently low level that will not damage fully
operation. So the 5W LED lamp was powered
charged cells, while less charged cells may
for almost 5 has presented. This supports our
continue to charge
suggestion of a second life for mobile phone
batteries for lighting applications, particularly in As well while recycling mobile phone batteries,
rural areas of developing countries. Obviously a it should be avoided to use generic batteries as
they do not always offer same safety guarantees
than original batteries.
Figure 4: Pack of 3 Galaxy Note 2 batteries with a protection
circuit [2]
The selection of batteries is done by self-
discharge test. The fully charged battery
unconnected for week and measure its capacity
or discharge the battery at 1/5th of its capacity
to a resistive load for 1 Hour. Then measures the
state of charge in percentage using a phone and
the batteries with similar charging capacity are
grouped together.
VI. Conclusion
The efficient method of e-waste management is
to reduce, recycle and reuse. The lithium
batteries which power up the mobile phones is a
hazardous e-waste that causes pollution of the
environment. The recycling of the lithium ion
batteries extracts the minerals and metals from it
by physical and chemical processes. Hence by
the proper management of the e-waste caused
by the mobile phones gives an opportunity of
natural resource saving. The extracted of metals
and cathode components from the LIBs can be
used to manufacture new LIBs. The reusable
batteries can be installed as a power bank for
portable electronic devices and the storage unit
for the solar powered lighting system.
References
[1] Jinqiu Xua,, H.R. Thomasb, Rob W. Francis
, Ken R. Lumb, Jingwei Wang , Bo Liang, ‘A
review of processes and technologies for the
recycling of lithium-ion secondary batteries’ ,
Journal of Power Sources 177 (2008) 512–527
[2] Boucar Diouf1,’ A second life for mobile
phone batteries in light emitting diode solar
home systems’, Journal of Renewable and
Sustainable Energy, American Institute of
Physics (AIP), April 18, 2016
[3] T. Georgi-Maschlera, B. Friedrich, R.
Weyhe, H. Heegn, M. Rutz, ‘Development of a
recycling process for Li-ion batteries’, Journal
of Power Sources 207 (2012) 173– 182
[4] Jo Dewulfa, Geert Van der Vorsta, Kim
Denturcka, ‘Recycling rechargeable lithium ion
batteries: Critical analysis of natural resource
savings’ Resources, Conservation and
Recycling 54 (2010) 229–234
[5] [4] Li Yong-Jia; Lei Ting; Zeng Gui-sheng
‘Hydrometallurgical process for recovery and
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