Numerical life cycle assessment of lithium ion battery, Li-NMC type, integrated with PV system

Abstract

This paper examines the environmental impacts of Li-NMC batteries throughout their life cycle using life cycle assessment with OpenLCA software V1.11.0 and data from the Ecoinvent database and manufacturers. Results show that the most significant environmental impact occurs during battery mining and production phase (76.93 %), followed by battery use phase (17.13 %), and battery pyrometallurgical recycling (2.32 %). The battery mining and production phase is also the most energy-intensive (67.76 %), followed by battery pyrometallurgical recycling (23.27 %) and hydrometallurgical processes (8.023 %). The battery carbon footprint is calculated at 189.357 kg CO2-eq/kWh, with manufacturing and mining phases dominating energy consumption (67.76 %). The battery estimated cost payback period is approximately 5.7 years when the calculations were done using the banks' tariff and about 9 years when the hotel's tariff was applied, while for household usage, the cost payback period was estimated to be 17.5 years.

Keywords

• LCA
• Life cycle assessment
• NMC
• Battery
• Lithium ion
• Solar energy