Cusenza Maria Anna, Bobba Silvia, Ardente Fulvio, Cellura Maurizio, Di Persio Franco
University of Palermo, Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models (DEIM), Viale delle Scienze Building 9, Palermo, Italy.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources, via Enrico Fermi, 2749, Ispra, VA, Italy.
J Clean Prod. 2019 Apr 1;215:634-649. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.056.
Traction batteries are a key factor in the environmental sustainability of electric mobility and, therefore, it is necessary to evaluate their environmental performance to allow a comprehensive sustainability assessment of electric mobility. This article presents an environmental assessment of a lithium-ion traction battery for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, characterized by a composite cathode material of lithium manganese oxide (LiMnO) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide Li(NiCoMn)O. Composite cathode material is an emerging technology that promises to combine the merits of several active materials into a hybrid electrode to optimize performance and reduce costs. In this study, the environmental assessment of one battery pack (with a nominal capacity of 11.4 kWh able to be used for about 140,000 km of driving) is carried out by using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology consistent with ISO 14040. The system boundaries are the battery production, the operation phase and recycling at the end of life, including the recovery of various material fractions. The composite cathode technology examined besides a good compromise between the higher and the lower performance of NMC and LMO cathodes, can present good environmental performances. The results of the analysis show that the manufacturing phase is relevant to all assessed impact categories (contribution higher than 60%). With regard to electricity losses due to battery efficiency and battery transport, the contribution to the use phase impact of battery efficiency is larger than that of battery transport. Recycling the battery pack contributes less than 11% to all of the assessed impact categories, with the exception of freshwater ecotoxicity (60% of the life cycle impact). The environmental credits related to the recovery of valuable materials (e.g. cobalt and nickel sulphates) and other metal fractions (e.g. aluminium and steel) are particularly relevant to impact categories such as marine eutrophication, human toxicity and abiotic resource depletion. The main innovations of this article are that (1) it presents the first bill of materials of a lithium-ion battery cell for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a composite cathode active material; (2) it describes one of the first applications of the life cycle assessment to a lithium-ion battery pack for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a composite cathode active material with the aim of identifying the "hot spots" of this technology and providing useful information to battery manufacturers on potentially improving its environmental sustainability; (3) it evaluates the impacts associated with the use phase based on primary data about the battery pack's lifetime, in terms of kilometres driven; and (4) it models the end-of-life phase of the battery components through processes specifically created for or adapted to the case study.
牵引电池是电动出行环境可持续性的关键因素，因此，有必要评估其环境性能，以便对电动出行进行全面的可持续性评估。本文对一款用于插电式混合动力汽车的锂离子牵引电池进行了环境评估，该电池的特点是采用锂锰氧化物（LiMnO）和锂镍锰钴氧化物Li（NiCoMn）O的复合阴极材料。复合阴极材料是一项新兴技术，有望将几种活性材料的优点结合到一个混合电极中，以优化性能并降低成本。在本研究中，使用符合ISO 14040的生命周期评估方法对一个电池组（标称容量为11.4 kWh，可用于约140,000公里的行驶）进行了环境评估。系统边界包括电池生产、运行阶段和寿命结束时的回收，包括各种材料组分的回收。所研究的复合阴极技术除了在NMC和LMO阴极的较高和较低性能之间取得良好折中外，还能呈现出良好的环境性能。分析结果表明，制造阶段与所有评估的影响类别相关（贡献高于60%）。关于电池效率和电池运输导致的电力损失，电池效率对使用阶段影响的贡献大于电池运输。回收电池组对所有评估的影响类别贡献均小于11%，淡水生态毒性除外（占生命周期影响的60%）。与回收有价值材料（如硫酸钴和硫酸镍）和其他金属组分（如铝和钢）相关的环境效益与海洋富营养化、人体毒性和非生物资源耗竭等影响类别尤其相关。本文的主要创新点在于：（1）它展示了首款采用复合阴极活性材料的插电式混合动力汽车锂离子电池的材料清单；（2）它描述了生命周期评估首次应用于一款采用复合阴极活性材料的插电式混合动力汽车锂离子电池组，目的是识别该技术的“热点”，并为电池制造商提供有关潜在改善其环境可持续性的有用信息；（3）它根据关于电池组使用寿命（以行驶公里数计）的原始数据评估与使用阶段相关的影响；（4）它通过专门为该案例研究创建或改编的流程对电池组件的寿命结束阶段进行建模。
