EV battery recycling can give wings to India’s decarbonisation dreams but faces stiff challenges

Subject : Science and Tech

Section: Msc

Introduction:

India does not have enough mineral reserves. At present, its electric vehicle sector is almost entirely dependent on imported battery cells.
- Most electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries because they are energy-dense and offer improved vehicle performance.
- India does not have reserves of raw materials like lithium, cobalt or nickel.
India needs to revamp its Battery Waste Management Rules of 2022 for efficient and economic extraction of critical minerals through recycling.
- Recycling retired batteries can help the sector hedge geopolitical risks, and build material security while minimising environmental hazards from the e-waste and staying on the path to Net Zero emissions.

Battery recycling in India:

Exigo Recycling plant in Panipat, Haryana.
Battery Smart- India’s largest network of battery swapping stations for electric two- and three-wheelers.
Lico Materials– A lithium-ion recycle plant in Raigad, Maharashtra.

Government’s vision of electric vehicle growth in India:

India plans to achieve 100 per cent electrification of two- and three-wheelers and 65-70 per cent electrification of buses by 2030.
India is also one of the 130 signatories to the Zero Emissions Vehicle Declaration made at a side event at the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in 2021. Though not legally binding, signatories to the declaration will ensure that only zero-emission cars and vans are sold by 2040.
- The Accelerating to Zero coalition (A2Z) launched at COP27 will host the ZEV declaration.
Niti Aayog in its 2022 report, Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India, estimates that the cumulative potential of lithium-ion batteries in India during 2022-30 will be around 600 GWh across all segments in the base case. Of this, 128 GWh will be available for recycling by 2030 with 46 per cent (59 GWh) coming from electric vehicles alone.
In June 2023, India joined the Minerals Security Partnership of the Critical Mineral Club, to catalyse investments from foreign governments and the private sector in the critical mineral supply and value chain.

Lithium-ion Battery (Li-ion Battery):

These cells have three essential components: two electrodes (an anode and a cathode) and a medium called an electrolyte (that transports ions between these electrodes, thereby generating current).
Typically, the anode is made from copper foil with graphite on it, while the cathode is made up of aluminium foil coated with lithium metal oxides (lithium along with other minerals such as cobalt, manganese, iron and nickel, depending on the cell chemistry). The electrolyte is a lithium salt solution such as lithium hexafluorophosphate.

Black mass:

In electric vehicles, a battery is retired once its performance degrades to 70-80 per cent of its original capacity.
These batteries can still be reused for non-automotive applications, such as stationary energy storage or grid storage.
In the recycling process, the batteries are deep discharged using a salt solution and then passed through a crusher and a shredder after drying.
The resultant material, called black mass, is a mixture of all the valuable materials contained in a lithium-ion cell.
The black mass is checked for quality and relevant batches go through extraction, which is essentially a chemical process in which first graphite is recovered, followed by lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese in that order.
These materials can then be used to manufacture anode and cathode and are ready to enter the supply chain again. Cobalt, lithium and nickel retrieved through recycling can be used in domestic industries such as steel and paints.
Most countries are trying to restrain the export of black mass to build their own battery recycling industry.
The International Council on Clean Transportation, a US-based non-profit, estimates that globally, 1.2 million electric vehicle batteries are expected to reach their end of life in 2030, increasing to 50 million in 2050.

Market amiss:

Currently, India does not have cell manufacturing capacity and domestic battery manufacturers import cells and assemble them.