Table 5.
Inventory data used for the battery cells, BMS, packaging and cooling system EoL treatment modelling.
| Reference product | 1 kg of cell | 1 kg of molten metal alloy + slag | 1 kg of BMS | 1 kg of packaging | 1 kg of cooling system | Ecoinvent processes used for the EoL treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs from nature | ||||||
| Water (m3) | 1.00E–03 | 7.2E–04 | ||||
| Inputs from technosphere | ||||||
| Aluminium scrap preparation (kg) | 0.04 | 0.36 | 0.91 | Aluminium scrap, post-consumer, prepared for melting; treatment of aluminium scrap, post-consumer, by collecting, sorting, cleaning, pressing | ||
| Blister copper conversion facility (p) | 5.00E–10 | – | – | – | Blister copper conversion facility | |
| Copper scrap preparation (kg) | 0.08 | 0.01 | Copper, treatment of scrap by electrolytic refining | |||
| Sodium hydroxide (kg) | 0.35 | – | – | – | Sodium hydroxide, without water, in 50% solution state | |
| Sulfuric acid (kg) | 0.23 | Sulfuric acid production | ||||
| Chemical inorganic | 0.025 | Chemical inorganic | ||||
| Lime, hydrated | 0.116 | Lime, hydrated, packed | ||||
| Chemical factory, organic | 4.0E–10 | Chemical factory, organic | ||||
| Steel scrap preparation (kg) | 0.41 | 0.36 | 0.02 | Iron scrap, sorted, pressed, sorting and pressing of iron scrap | ||
| Electricity, medium voltage (kWh) | 0.80 | 0.14 | 0.18 | 0.25 | 0.27 | Electricity, medium voltage |
| Electricity, high voltage (kWh) | 0.09 | 0.01 | Electricity, high voltage | |||
| Heat, natural gas (MJ) | 0.30 | 2.96 | 7.51 | Heat production, natural gas, at boiler condensing modulating >100 kW | ||
| Heat, heavy fuel (MJ) | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.47 | Heat production, heavy fuel oil, at industrial furnace 1 MW | ||
| Heat, hard coal (MJ) |
0.50 |
0.10 |
Heat production, at hard coal industrial furnace 1–10 MW |
|||
| Emissions to air (for details about emissions to air please consult Ecoinvent 3 database) | ||||||
| Emissions to water (for details about emissions to air please consult Ecoinvent 3 database) | ||||||
| Output to technosphere (waste for further treatment) | ||||||
| Electronic scrap (kg) | – | 0.14 | – | – | Treatment of electronics scrap from control unit | |
| Non-Fe-Co metals∗∗ (kg) | 0.18∗ | – | – | – | Non-Fe-Co metals, treatment of used Li-ion battery, hydrometallurgical processing | |
| PWB (kg) | – | 0.14 | – | – | Used printed wiring boards, treatment of scrap printed wiring boards, shredding and separation | |
| Used cable (kg) | – | 0.14 | – | – | Used cable | |
| Waste graphical paper (kg) | 0.065 | Waste graphical paper | ||||
| Waste gypsum | 0.339 | Waste gypsum | ||||
| Plastic material in the cells | 0.07∗ | –∗∗∗ | – | – | – | Waste plastic to municipal incinerator |
| Plastic materials (kg) | – | 0.04 | 0.24 | – | Waste plastic, mixture | |
| Avoided product | ||||||
| Aluminium (kg) | 0.04 | 0.35 | 0.89 | Aluminium, primary, ingot | ||
| Cobalt sulphate (kg) | 0.04 | Cobalt sulphate (Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011) | ||||
| Copper (kg) | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.01 | – | Copper production, primary | |
| Nickel sulphate (kg) | 0.07 | Nickel sulphate (Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011) | ||||
| Manganese sulphate (kg) | 0.07 | Manganese sulphate (Majeau-Bettez et al., 2011) | ||||
| Steel (kg) | 0.21 | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.02 | Steel, low-alloyed, hot rolled production | |
*The amounts are adapted to match the input of materials specific to the composition of the analysed battery cell.
**The output of this process is the production of copper.
***It was assumed that all plastic materials were burned during the pyrometallurgical recycling process.