Quantifying the environmental impact of a Li-rich high-capacity cathode material in electric vehicles via life cycle assessment

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• 作者：Yuqi Wang ; Yajuan Yu ; Kai Huang ; Bo Chen…
• 关键词：Environmental impact ; Li ; rich cathode ; Lithium ; ion battery ; Life cycle assessment
• 刊名：Environmental Science and Pollution Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：24
• 期：2
• 页码：1251-1260
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Earth and Environmental Science
• 刊物主题：Environment, general; Environmental Chemistry; Ecotoxicology; Environmental Health; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Waste Water Technology / Water Pollution Control / Water M
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1614-7499
• 卷排序：24

文摘

A promising Li-rich high-capacity cathode material (xLi₂MnO₃·(1-x)LiMn_0.5Ni_0.5O₂) has received much attention with regard to improving the performance of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. This study presents an environmental impact evaluation of a lithium-ion battery with Li-rich materials used in an electric vehicle throughout the life cycle of the battery. A comparison between this cathode material and a Li-ion cathode material containing cobalt was compiled in this study. The battery use stage was found to play a large role in the total environmental impact and high greenhouse gas emissions. During battery production, cathode material manufacturing has the highest environmental impact due to its complex processing and variety of raw materials. Compared to the cathode with cobalt, the Li-rich material generates fewer impacts in terms of human health and ecosystem quality. Through the life cycle assessment (LCA) results and sensitivity analysis, we found that the electricity mix and energy efficiency significantly influence the environmental impacts of both battery production and battery use. This paper also provides a detailed life cycle inventory, including firsthand data on lithium-ion batteries with Li-rich cathode materials.