Life cycle assessment of a LiFePO4 cylindrical battery

Abstract

Reduction of the environmental impact, energy efficiency and optimization of material resources are basic aspects in the design and sizing of a battery. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize the environmental impact associated with the life cycle of a 7.47 Wh 18,650 cylindrical single-cell LiFePO4 battery. Life cycle assessment (LCA), the SimaPro 9.1 software package, the Ecoinvent 3.5 database and the ReCiPe 2016 impact assessment method were used for this purpose. Environmental impacts were modelled and quantified using the dual midpoint-endpoint approach and the “cradle-to-gate” model. The results showed the electrodes to be the battery components with the highest environmental impact (41.36% of the total), with the negative electrode being the most unfavourable (29.8 mPt). The ageing, calibration and testing process (53.97 mPt) accounts for 97.21% of the total impact associated with the production process’s consumption of energy, and 41.20% of the total impact associated with the battery. This new knowledge will allow a more detailed view of the environmental impact of cylindrical cell LiFePO4 batteries, favouring the identification of critical points to enhance their sustainable production.