Comparison of the Sustainable Contributions of Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Methods

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

Reaching the end of their lifecycle, lithium-ion batteries contain significant amounts of lithium residues as well as valuable metals such as Co, Ni, and Mn, presenting both environmental risks and opportunities for resource recovery. Recent advances in hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical, and biotechnological methods enable the recovery of high-purity lithium compounds while also increasing their economic viability. This study analyzes the contribution of lithium recovery methods to sustainability criteria, their annual averages, and total data between 2008 and 2026, considering the number of academic references in the literature. The analysis compares the contributions of recycling methods to lithium and other metal recovery efficiency, process efficiency, energy consumption, environmental impact, economic impact, adaptation to technological developments, and integrated applications. LIB recycling methods showed higher overall and annual average sustainability contributions to the recovery efficiency of other metals and lithium compared to other criteria. Their contributions to process efficiency and the environment were also relatively high. However, their contributions to the economy, adaptation to technological developments, and integration of methods remain low. Furthermore, since the contribution to energy consumption is negative overall, further academic studies are needed to improve contributions, particularly in energy consumption and the other three criteria mentioned above.