Life Cycle Assessment of Direct Recycling for Cathode Active Materials

As transportation becomes further electrified, lithium-ion batteries are only increasing in demand, making recycling crucial for sustaining this growth. This work uses life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of different direct recycling methods for cathode active materials based on the ReCiPe method and standardized process assumptions. Focusing on cathode active materials as the most valuable battery components, the study compares leaching-based and other direct recycling routes across key impact categories. By jointly considering recycling rates of all valuable metals and total environmental burden, the analysis identifies, for each cathode active material chemistry, the most environmentally favorable direct recycling pathway. The resulting guidance helps inform industrial adoption of direct recycling technologies that can support large-scale transportation electrification while minimizing environmental impacts.