Fast deep discharging using a controllable load as pretreatment for EV battery recycling : A study on efficacy, speed, and safety

Abstract: In response to the present and projected growth of the EV industry, the development of a large-scale, reliable and efficient lithium-ion battery recycling sector is vital to ensure circularity of the embedded valuable metals and ensure overall sustainability of the technology. One of the main recycling procedures under development is based on hydrometallurgy. As a pretreatment step before lithium-ion batteries can undergo this process, they have to be deactivated to prevent uncontrolled release of the contained electrical energy. This deactivation step is often performed by deep discharging batteries to 0.0 V, instead of the usual lower cut-off around 3.0 V. Usually, deep discharging is performed by connection to resistors or through submersion in a salt solution. However, due to the discharge current derating proportionally to the terminal voltage, this procedure can be quite slow, especially if considerable rebound voltages are to be prevented. This work explores the feasibility of a faster discharge procedure in terms of discharge speed, effectiveness, and safety. The proposed procedure entails deep discharging at constant current using a controllable load, followed by applying an external short-circuit immediately. The C-rate during constant current discharging is varied to study its effects. The short-circuit is applied at a terminal voltage of 0.0 V or 1.0 V. The safety of both process steps is assessed experimentally. The main safety risks that are reviewed are the temperature rise and subsequent risk of thermal runaway, as well as the risk of electrolyte leakage due to pressure increase and swelling. In the experimental work, two types of large format prismatic NMC811 cells are deep discharged starting from an SoC of 0%. The experiments are limited to single cells. It is found that an additional 4% of additional capacity is available in the deep discharging region for a stationary cell at 0% SoC. The risk of thermal runaway is assessed as low based on the temperature measurements and a literature review. To investigate the rise in pressure, the thickness of all cells are measured, and the in situ pressure is measured for three samples. The risk for electrolyte leakage is assessed as low. The rebound voltage and cell thickness are followed up to one week after the discharge procedure. After a short-circuit of 30 minutes, the rebound voltage of all cells is near 2.0 V, but a slightly longer short circuit duration would be necessary to reliably achieve this threshold. The total procedure time is much shorter than those of alternative discharge procedures, while still remaining safe.