End-of-Life EV Battery Recycling: Process and Project Planning

Mechanical recycling primarily involves physical operations such as discharging, disassembling, crushing, screening, and sorting batteries by mechanical equipment. This process separates materials like casings, electrode sheets, and separators from the batteries, and then further extracts the metallic components. This method is suitable for businesses with low capacity, limited investment budgets, and less demanding requirements for metal purity, such as regional recycling centers or pre-treatment plants.

The advantages include excellent environmental performance, relatively low energy consumption, and ease of automation. The entire process primarily relies on physical separation without generating significant exhaust gases or waste liquids. It does not require high-temperature treatment, so the effect of energy saving is significant and the overall operation is continuous and stable.

Pyrolytic recycling involves thermally decomposing batteries under high temperatures and inert gas conditions. This process causes the electrolyte to evaporate, the binder to decompose, and the active materials to separate from the current collector. Then the batteries enter subsequent chemical extraction stages. It is suitable for large recycling plants or enterprises with comprehensive environmental protection facilities, particularly for projects requiring high metal recovery rates.

This process can condition and separate electrode-bearing fractions; the measured recovery and output specification depend on chemistry, input condition, procesná cesta, sampling and downstream acceptance. It also features strong adaptability, capable of processing various types of lithium batteries, including ternary, lithium iron phosphate, and polymer batteries. Additionally, the material after pyrolysis is easier to process in hydrometallurgical purification, thereby enhancing the efficiency of subsequent metal extraction processes.