Lithium batteries are becoming more and more popular in the material handling market, just as the supply chain is strengthening recycling services and procurement plans to support a greener energy landscape. Driven by the realization of internal sustainable development goals and the solution of supply chain procurement problems, the business world that pays more and more attention to environmental protection wants to know this. Recycling can help solve these two problems. The lithium battery recycling business is still in its infancy.
Vincent Caron, legal director of ugowork, a lithium battery and energy supplier in Quebec, Canada, explained: "what is missing is a huge business case for recycling these products a few years ago. He pointed out that lithium batteries are becoming more and more popular in automotive and material handling applications as a catalyst for change. Now, this is a very, very huge market."
The long history of recycling forklift batteries (especially lead-acid batteries) is also a factor. All forklift batteries are large and have complex chemical composition. They cannot be thrown into the trash can at the end of their service life. The rules and regulations around lead acid have given way to the circular economy of these products; Today, they are almost 100% recyclable. As the demand for lithium batteries increases, so does the expectation of recycling them. Caron said: "as more and more products enter the market, more and more companies are trying to surpass this demand - some researchers predict that lithium batteries will achieve double-digit growth. As a result, battery manufacturers and end users have begun to establish partnerships with recyclers to make the circular economy a reality of these increasingly popular products.
As this process unfolds, here are three things about lithium battery recycling.
1. The business case is growing
The demand for lithium battery recycling has been increasing over the past decade or so, due to the surge in personal electronics and recent electric vehicles, all of which rely on advanced battery technology, according to Peter geantil, special project manager.
There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, the design of some batteries makes it difficult to obtain and extract lithium and other elements inside. On the other hand, it needs to find a recycler to deal with the "chemical properties" of the specific battery. Lithium batteries have many different battery chemical compositions, and manufacturers will choose which battery to produce according to their performance in specific applications. Recyclers do not always handle all chemicals on the market, so it is difficult to find the right type of battery to recycle.
Infrastructure construction in progress
According to the 2020 market report of research company grand view research, the global lithium battery market in 2019 is worth US $32.9 billion. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% from 2020 to 2027. Investors are digging this "cake".
3. The overall method is king
Battery manufacturers are quick to point out that recycling is only part of the larger driving force behind decarbonization, and lithium-ion battery technology plays an important role in this process.
"We firmly believe that the main challenge of lithium batteries is how to make the industry more widely transition to low-carbon emissions, and lithium technology will be part of this decarbonization process," explained Oliveira of enersys
Caron and his colleague Jean Francois Marchand, marketing director, agreed and pointed out other considerations in developing a green energy strategy, such as logistics and transportation around procurement and scrap processes.
