To shred or to disassemble – A techno-economic assessment of automated disassembly vs. shredding in lithium-ion battery module recycling

Abstract

The global adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is driving a surge in the use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), creating an urgent need for sophisticated recycling techniques to recover valuable materials and manage waste. Particularly, automating the laborintensive disassembly process is critical for scaling up recycling efforts. This study provides a techno-economic evaluation of a robotic line for disassembling EV LIB modules, exploring whether it's more profitable to extend automation to the cell level. Three different EV modules are examined, and several scenarios are proposed, showing that investments in robotic disassembly could be financially sound, particularly with the anticipated rise in end-of-life EV LIBs. The key to profitability lies in disassembling to the cell level, which enables the recovery of more valuable materials and reduces downstream processing requirements. This research offers practical guidelines for automating the disassembly process in line with future waste management demands.