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Assessing the Techno-Economic Feasibility of Solvent-Based, Critical Material Recovery from Uncertain, End-of-Life Battery Feedstock

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Energy Technology 2020: Recycling, Carbon Dioxide Management, and Other Technologies

Part of the book series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series ((MMMS))

Abstract

As emerging technologies drive up demand for rare earths, value recovery from recycling end-of-life products provides an option for partially closing the material loop, conserving natural capital and enhancing resource security. Yet the techno-economic feasibility of recycling depends on uncertainties associated with the feed input to the recovery process, and the effect of these uncertainties on the viability of the recycling facility. In this study, we couple a first-principle solvent extraction model with an economic model for a separation facility and apply it to assess byproduct recovery and rare earth separation from spent nickel-metal hydride batteries, illustrating the significance of parametric uncertainties. The study shows the importance of risk-informed decision making in the investment, design, and operation of recycling facilities.

The manuscript was written with contribution from all authors.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge Allinson Santos-Xavier (Argonne National Lab) for providing valuable discussions on optimization approaches. The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (“Argonne”). Argonne National Laboratory’s work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. The US government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up non-exclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the government. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan. This research used resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Argonne National Laboratory, Energy Systems Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA

    Chukwunwike O. Iloeje & Yusra Khalid

  2. US Department of Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, 1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20585, USA

    Joe Cresko

  3. Argonne National Laboratory, Decision and Infrastructure Sciences Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA

    Diane J. Graziano

Authors
  1. Chukwunwike O. Iloeje
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  2. Yusra Khalid
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  3. Joe Cresko
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  4. Diane J. Graziano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chukwunwike O. Iloeje .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Xiaobo Chen

  2. Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

    Yulin Zhong

  3. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Lei Zhang

  4. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    John A. Howarter

  5. University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

    Alafara Abdullahi Baba

  6. Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

    Cong Wang

  7. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Ziqi Sun

  8. ArcelorMittal Global R&D, Schererville, IN, USA

    Mingming Zhang

  9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Elsa Olivetti

  10. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Alan Luo

  11. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Adam Powell

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Iloeje, C.O., Khalid, Y., Cresko, J., Graziano, D.J. (2020). Assessing the Techno-Economic Feasibility of Solvent-Based, Critical Material Recovery from Uncertain, End-of-Life Battery Feedstock. In: Chen, X., et al. Energy Technology 2020: Recycling, Carbon Dioxide Management, and Other Technologies. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36830-2_26

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