Abstract:

The transition to low-carbon transportation is aided by electric cars (EVs), and lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are a vital part of EVs. It is essential to quantify the associated resource consumption intensity from several angles due to the significant demand for energy and essential metals for LIB manufacture. The exergy from the second law of thermodynamics was used in the current work to evaluate the abiotic resource depletion linked to the production of lithium nickel cobalt manganate (NCM) batteries, including NCM111, NCM523, NCM622, and NCM811. The functional unit was determined as a 1 kWh NCM power pack in order to compare the results. The findings revealed that the NCM523 pack production's cumulative energy demand (CExD) value is 2857.56 MJ/kWh, with the cathode material manufacturing process accounting for 56.77% of that value because of CoSO4's large contribution. By using less cobalt and using a solvent recovery system, the CExD of battery production can be efficiently decreased. The key to reducing CExD is the supply stage of upstream raw and auxiliary materials. Due to an increase in energy density and a decrease in the demand for cobalt, the comparison results showed a considerable decrease in the CExD of Ni-rich NCM batteries. Additionally, the comparison of the CExD, ReCiPe, and CML-IA methods' characteristics and the results of the abiotic resource depletion characterization demonstrated that using CExD has definite advantages in terms of objectivity and long-term stability in the evaluation of quickly innovated battery products. Exergy-based accounting techniques for resources are used to increase resource efficiency in the relevant businesses and advance scientific knowledge of abiotic depletion levels.