R03 Carbon battery

Research and analysis on recycling and echelon utilization of power R03 Carbon battery at home and abroad

This report compares the system and scale of power batteries and echelon utilization at home and abroad. It also reviews the policies introduced by the Chinese government and local governments in recent years for power battery recycling and echelon utilization. At the same time, based on the service life of power batteries, the power battery recycling market space is estimated to be over 100 years. billion scale, related companies are expected to usher in a golden period of rapid growth.

Summary

The power lithium battery recycling policy has been introduced to speed up the development of the power battery recycling industry and actively guide and standardize it. In 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ministries and commissions promulgated a total of 4 policies related to power battery recycling. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Technical Committee for Automobile Standardization issued the "Automotive Industry Investment Management Regulations (Draft for Comments)" and "Vehicle Power Battery Recycling" respectively. "Material Recycling Requirements" to solicit opinions and accelerate the development of the power battery recycling system. Compared with national policies, the plans implemented in various localities are more detailed. In terms of release cities, they are concentrated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, which are basically consistent with areas where new energy vehicles are developing rapidly.

The peak period of power battery scrapping is approaching. In the future, it is expected that the main body of retired batteries will be lithium iron phosphate, supplemented by ternary batteries. my country's new energy vehicles have entered a stage of explosive growth since 2014. According to the calculation of the service life of power batteries of 4-6 years, the power batteries produced in 2014 began to enter the scrapping period in batches last year. It is expected that by 2020, our country will produce about 240,000 tons of Retired lithium-ion batteries will produce 530,000 tons of retired lithium-ion batteries in 2022. Judging from the current potential retired battery structure, lithium iron phosphate batteries will be the main force in retired batteries by 2022. It is expected that starting in 2023, ternary power batteries will surpass lithium iron phosphate batteries and become the main object of recycling.

The construction of a power battery recycling system has both economic and environmental significance. The recycling of power batteries is mainly divided into two cycles: stepped utilization and disassembly and recycling, and the recycling cycle of power batteries starts with stepped utilization. Most of the batteries used in secondary applications are lithium iron phosphate batteries. Since ternary batteries are rich in valuable metals, they are usually directly disassembled and recycled. Ladder batteries have certain advantages over lead-acid batteries in terms of cycle life, energy density, and high-temperature performance. The average lithium content in ternary material batteries is significantly higher than the lithium mines developed and utilized in my country. At the same time, nickel and cobalt are both high-value non-ferrous metals, and their disassembly and recycling have high economic value. In addition, the heavy metals in used power batteries will cause great harm to the ecological environment. If used power batteries are only treated by ordinary garbage disposal methods such as landfill and incineration, environmental pollution will be inevitable.

The power battery recycling market will have a market size of tens of billions within two years. Dividing the recycling market into the secondary utilization market and the dismantling recycling market, we calculated that retired power R03 Carbon battery will reach 26.69GWh in 2020, including 6.38Wh ternary batteries and 20.31GWh lithium iron phosphate batteries, totaling 237,800 tons, corresponding to a market of 13.1 billion space. The retired power R03 Carbon battery in 2022 will reach 52.29GWh, including 30.72Wh ternary batteries and 21.57GWh lithium iron phosphate batteries, totaling 385,400 tons, corresponding to a market space of 18.4 billion. The retired power R03 Carbon battery in 2025 will reach 134.49GWh, including 100.53GWh of ternary batteries and 33.96GWh of lithium iron phosphate batteries, totaling 803,600 tons, corresponding to a market space of 35.4 billion.

Overseas power recovery systems are more complete and each has its own advantages. Since developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan started recycling lead-acid batteries and consumer R03 Carbon battery earlier, the recycling systems established have achieved good results, forming producer responsibility in which power battery manufacturers bear the main responsibility for battery recycling. The derivative mechanism and supporting policy system are relatively complete. Under the mechanism where battery companies assume primary responsibility, there are three main ways to build recycling channels: first, battery manufacturers use sales channels to build "reverse logistics" recycling channels; second, build recycling channels by co-building industry associations and alliances; third, It is a specific third-party recycling company that builds its own recycling channels. Among them, the EU and the United States mainly build battery recycling channels through industry associations or alliances. In Japan, battery companies mainly build recycling channels through "reverse logistics".

Domestic battery industry chain companies have taken precautions and begun to extend their layout downwards. In the future, upstream and downstream cooperation will continue to strengthen. Taking into account the life cycle of power batteries, the current direct scrap volume of domestic lithium power batteries has not yet reached an explosive period. The main sources of waste batteries are still production waste from battery factories and consumer electronic R03 Carbon battery. From the perspective of layout entities, upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain such as resources, materials, and batteries and new energy vehicles are actively developing recycling layouts, and third-party resource recycling companies are also involved. As the climax of power battery scrapping approaches, companies are gradually investing more in building factories and acquiring capital. Due to the responsibility mechanism for power battery recycling and the systemic complexity of battery recycling, strategic alliances and cooperation between the upstream and downstream of the industry chain are an inevitable trend in the future.

1. The tiered utilization and recycling policy of power R03 Carbon battery continues to be strengthened to guide and standardize the development of the power battery recycling industry

1. The policy system is gradually improved

Since 2009, the country has issued various policies to advocate the establishment of a power battery recycling system. In order to avoid following the old path of "treating chaos first and then fixing it", the frequency of formulating relevant policies has accelerated significantly after 2016. The intensive introduction of policies is accelerating the commercialization of battery recycling before 2020. At present, the policy system has taken initial shape, which has played a huge role in promoting and regulating the recycling and reuse of R03 Carbon battery.

In June 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology promulgated the "New Energy Vehicle Manufacturing Enterprises and Product Access Management Rules", which for the first time put forward battery recycling requirements for new energy vehicle companies as an access condition for the industry, kicking off the development of the power battery recycling industry. prelude. In March 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Automotive Power Battery Industry Standard Conditions", encouraging recycling companies to work with vehicle companies to study and formulate recycling and reuse plans. In February 2018, seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles." As the implementation document of the "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries of New Energy Vehicles" (Draft for Comments) issued in December 2016, the Measures emphasize that automobile manufacturers bear the main responsibility for the recycling of power batteries, the establishment of a full life cycle management mechanism and the post-utilization process Recycling principle.

In July 2018, seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Piloting the Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles", identifying the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shanxi Province, Shanghai City, Jiangsu Province and other regions, as well as China Tower Co., Ltd. For pilot regions and enterprises, pilot work on power battery recycling is carried out, which marks that my country's power battery recycling has entered a large-scale implementation stage.

The current domestic power policy system specifications have the following characteristics: 1. Recycling responsibility mechanism: Emphasis on the extended producer responsibility system, extending producer environmental responsibility to the entire life cycle including design, circulation, recycling, waste disposal, etc.; 2. Recycling Network construction: Automobile companies are responsible for establishing recycling outlets; encourage the upstream and downstream of the industry chain to jointly build and share recycling networks; build a full life cycle management mechanism based on power battery coding standards and traceability information systems; 3. Comprehensive battery utilization methods: follow the first The overall principle of recycling after cascade use; 4. Recycling industry management: guide the standardized development of the industry through technical policies and industry standards, and gradually improve industry access standards; 5. Government promotion and support: focusing on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze-Pearl River Delta, etc. Gather regional pilot projects; "focus on supporting leading enterprises" and support the research and development of common technologies in the industry.

2. Major cities actively launch local policies

Under the policy of pilot first, standardization + incentives, major cities have supplemented or introduced relevant local policies and regulations based on the development status of the local new energy vehicle industry and power batteries to promote the recycling planning of new energy vehicle power batteries. At present, compared with national policies, the plans formulated by various localities are more detailed. Among them, Shenzhen took the lead in issuing a plan to establish a battery supervision and recycling system in 2018, proposing to improve the deposit mechanism for power battery recycling, with the goal of realizing that all companies included in the scope of subsidies will be included in the scope of subsidies by 2020. Supervise the entire life cycle of new energy vehicle power batteries and establish a complete power battery supervision and recycling system. In January 2019, Shenzhen released the "Shenzhen Financial Support Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles in 2018", in which power battery recycling subsidies appeared for the first time in local subsidy policies. Shenzhen also became the first domestic city to set up power battery recycling subsidies.

According to the "New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Recycling Pilot Implementation Plan" issued by seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, it was decided to build a recycling system and explore diversified business models in selected areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the central region. Promote the innovation and application of advanced technologies and establish and improve policy incentive mechanisms. The pilot areas are basically consistent with the areas where new energy vehicles are developing rapidly. Judging from the cities that have launched local policies related to power batteries, they are mainly concentrated in first- and new first-tier cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. No second- and third-tier cities have yet issued relevant power battery recycling policies.

2. Power battery scrapping is about to happen, welcoming a market size of tens of billions

1. Policies support the rapid growth of new energy vehicle production and sales, and the peak period of power battery scrapping is approaching.

The state attaches great importance to new energy electric vehicles and continuously improves the policy system to promote the healthy development of the industry. The current energy crisis and environmental issues have become world challenges. The development of new environmentally friendly energy and the reform of new energy consumption methods are also major issues facing China. The development of new energy vehicles is the general trend. In April 2017, the "Medium and Long-term Development Plan for the Automobile Industry" jointly issued by the three ministries listed the research and development, promotion and application of new energy vehicles as a key project, and planned that the production and sales of new energy vehicles should reach 2 million units by 2020. In order to complete this As a goal, new energy vehicle sales are expected to maintain a growth rate of more than 37% from 2018 to 2020 (of which new energy vehicle sales have achieved 62% growth in 2018); the plan also proposes that new energy vehicles will account for 20% of automobile production and sales by 2025 By then, the annual sales volume of new energy vehicles is expected to exceed 6 million.

The current relevant policies generally show the following characteristics: 1. Emphasis on the large-scale application of new energy vehicles; 2. Emphasis on reducing subsidies and raising thresholds; 3. Emphasis on pure electric drive technology research; 4. Continuous improvement and improvement of production and product access standards; 5. Relax domestic investment and foreign investment restrictions on related automobile projects; 6. Improve long-term management mechanisms and supporting infrastructure.

Among them, reducing subsidies plays an important role in healthy competition and healthy development of the industry. Starting from the “Ten Cities Thousand Vehicles” project in 2009, the purchase subsidy has entered its tenth year. In the early stages of subsidies, the subsidy policy had a significant effect on supporting new energy vehicle companies. But now, in order to avoid various problems such as overheating development and "cheating subsidies", the Ministry of Finance and other four ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Notice on Adjusting Fiscal Subsidy Policies for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles" on December 29, 2016, to adjust and improve the subsidy system and reduce Subsidy and raise the subsidy threshold. This will have significant results in improving industry efficiency, promoting industry transformation, promoting technological innovation, and achieving healthy competition. It is expected to guide the industry to continue to develop steadily and upward through marketization rather than administrative means.

Driven by policies, China's new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in 2017, 794,000 new energy vehicles were produced and 777,000 new energy vehicles were sold, an increase of 53.6% and 53.3% over the same period last year, ranking first in the world for three consecutive years; the cumulative number of vehicles in stock is approximately 1.8 million. vehicles, accounting for more than 50% of the global market. In 2018, 1.2575 million new energy vehicles were produced and 1.247 million were sold, an increase of 60.9% and 62% over the same period last year. The overall industry development trend is moving towards the "Energy Saving and New Energy Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)" which "by 2020, the production capacity of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will reach 2 million units, and the cumulative production and sales will exceed 5 million vehicle" goal.

With the rapid growth of electric vehicles, the power battery industry has enjoyed a highly prosperous development period for several years. In the future, it will show the joint development of "quantity" and "quality". According to statistics from GGII, China's power battery production in 2018 was 65GWh, a year-on-year increase of 46%; the output value was 82 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13%. In terms of the number of enterprises and overall supporting volume, China's power battery industry ranks first in the world. With the rapid development of the industry and the influx of industrial capital, the battery industry itself has also begun to iterate rapidly. Batteries with a series of advantages such as high specific energy, high specific power, and strong safety are constantly being launched on the market.

The high proportion of battery costs in the entire vehicle has led to high prices for electric vehicles. Battery costs are expected to drop by nearly 40% in 2020, which may make electric vehicles competitive with the prices of traditional fuel vehicles. Currently, for new energy vehicles that are common on the market, especially pure electric vehicles, the cost of the battery pack accounts for about 40% of the total vehicle price, of which the cost of the power battery accounts for 76% of the total three electricity (battery, motor, and electronic control) costs. In the battery structure, the cathode material rich in nickel, cobalt, manganese and other metal elements in the battery core is the most expensive, accounting for about 45%. Higher battery costs keep electric vehicle prices high. Driven by various subsidies, the number of new energy vehicles in my country has exceeded 2 million. With the gradual tightening of subsidy policies, low-priced and extremely low-mileage electric models have been eliminated. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed in the "Medium and Long-term Development Plan for the Automobile Industry" that "by 2020, the specific energy of new energy vehicle power battery systems will strive to reach 260wh/kg, and the cost will be reduced to less than 1 yuan/watt hour." This is compared with the current 1.5 yuan/watt-hour. Compared with Wh battery cost, the decrease is obvious. This data means that after subsidies are stripped away, electric vehicles are expected to compete with traditional fuel vehicles in price in three to five years. In fact, with the advancement of technology and the scale of battery production, the cost of power batteries in my country dropped by 79% from 2010 to 2017. In the next five years, new energy vehicles, mainly pure electric vehicles, will experience two stages of significant cost decline: In 2018-2019, due to intensified competition and overcapacity, the price of A-class vehicles with a cruising range of 300km will likely fall after subsidies. Exploring 100,000 yuan and below; the second stage is from 2020 to 2021. New energy vehicle subsidies will be withdrawn. At the same time, the new energy vehicle industry will form a scale effect. The price of A-class vehicles with a cruising range of 300km will likely fall after subsidies. It was found to be about 80,000 yuan. The gradual emergence of scale effects will lower the purchase cost of new energy vehicles and later battery maintenance costs, which is conducive to the rapid development of the industry.

The usage characteristics of vehicle power batteries result in a short lifespan. Power batteries require frequent charging and discharging, which greatly affects the capacity of the battery. Generally, when the capacity of a power battery decreases to less than 80% of its initial capacity, it reaches its designed effective service life and needs to be replaced. The effective life of electric passenger car batteries is 4-6 years, whileDue to their long daily mileage and higher charging and discharging frequency, electric commercial vehicles have an effective lifespan of only about 3 years.

The rapid development of new energy vehicles means that a large number of used R03 Carbon battery will appear, and the peak period of scrapping is coming. my country's new energy vehicles have entered a stage of explosive growth since 2014. According to the 4-6-year service life of passenger car batteries, power batteries for passenger cars produced in 2014 began to enter the scrappage period in batches last year; the number of commercial vehicles is small, but Commercial vehicles are equipped with higher-capacity batteries, so their scrap volume will also be considerable. By 2020, my country will produce about 260,000 tons of retired lithium-ion batteries, and in 2025, it will produce 800,000 tons of retired lithium-ion batteries (134.39GWh).

2. The construction of a power battery recycling system has both economic and environmental significance.

The recycling of power batteries is mainly divided into two cycles: stepped utilization and disassembly and recycling, and the recycling cycle of power batteries starts with stepped utilization. Dismantling and recycling refers to crushing, dismantling and smelting completely scrapped power batteries to realize the recycling of nickel, cobalt, lithium and other resources. The life cycle of a power battery generally includes production, use, scrapping, decomposition and reuse. After the battery capacity of a vehicle power battery is reduced to 80%, its charge and discharge performance will not meet the requirements of vehicle driving and needs to be scrapped. In addition to the decrease in chemical activity of this type of power battery, the chemical composition inside the battery has not changed, and there is still 20% of the capacity can be used in areas with small power demand, that is, the battery capacity is no longer valuable until it is below 60%. Therefore, the battery capacity used by electric vehicles only accounts for 50% of the available capacity of the power battery in the entire life cycle. Direct disassembly and recycling of batteries removed from cars will result in 50% energy waste. After reorganization, such batteries can be used in situations with lower power requirements than those of cars to fully utilize the battery capacity; for recycling cycle life Smaller power batteries with a capacity of less than 60% will no longer have use value. Such batteries need to be dismantled and recycled to extract valuable metals and materials, and then the recycled metals and materials can be used in battery cells. In the production of modules and systems, the entire life cycle of power batteries forms a closed-loop state.

Judging from the current potential retired battery structure, the main body of retired batteries in the mid-term will be lithium iron phosphate, supplemented by ternary batteries. Based on the 4-6-year service life of power batteries, it is speculated that lithium iron phosphate batteries will be the main force in decommissioned batteries by 2022. Starting in 2023 at the latest, ternary power batteries will surpass lithium iron phosphate batteries and become the most recycled Main object.

(1) Echelon utilization: broad prospects, large-scale application still takes time

Ladder utilization refers to screening power batteries that still have 60-80% of the initial capacity after being retired from electric vehicles. After re-testing, analysis and screening, they can be used in other fields where the operating conditions are relatively simple and the battery performance requirements are low. . For example: as an energy storage material, used in off-peak and peak applications to smooth the power fluctuations of distributed power supplies; as a backup power supply for communication base stations; used in scenarios such as low-speed electric vehicles and electric motorcycles that have relatively low battery performance requirements. From the perspective of application fields, decommissioned power batteries have huge application potential in fields such as energy storage and low-speed electric vehicles. Since the technology is still relatively immature, there are still safety issues during utilization; at the same time, due to the lack of industry standards, different types of batteries There is a difficult period for unified reuse after recycling, and the overall cascade utilization is still in the demonstration application stage, but there are currently successful cases in China.

Most of the batteries used in secondary applications are lithium iron phosphate batteries. Since ternary batteries are rich in valuable metals, they are usually directly disassembled and recycled. Currently, the most commonly used power batteries in automobiles are lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary material batteries. The capacity attenuation of lithium iron phosphate batteries is much smaller than that of ternary batteries. When the number of cycles of the ternary battery is around 2500, the battery capacity decays to 80%. After that, the relative capacity shows a rapid attenuation trend as the number of cycles increases. Therefore, the number of cycles is less and the reuse value is extremely low. However, the lithium iron phosphate battery has a very low recycling value. The capacity shows a slow attenuation trend as the number of cycles increases. When the battery capacity decays to 80%, the lithium iron phosphate batteries retired from cars still have more cycles and have higher echelon utilization value.

Power system energy storage: From a technical point of view, it is feasible to use electric vehicle power battery cascade batteries for power system energy storage. However, due to the large differences in performance parameters of retired power battery cells, how to determine whether it is simple, appropriate, reliable and has the Certain universal sorting conditions are currently a technical problem that needs to be solved.

Communication base station backup power supply: The communication base station backup power supply is mostly lead-acid batteries, and some also use new lithium iron phosphate batteries. The requirements for batteries in backup power are not particularly high. Lead-acid batteries have short service life, low performance, and contain a large amount of heavy metal lead. If they are not handled properly after disposal, they will cause secondary pollution to the environment. Ladder batteries have certain advantages over lead-acid batteries in terms of cycle life, energy density, and high-temperature performance, and all performance indicators are better than lead-acid batteries. Since the nominal voltage of the communication base station backup power battery is fixed at 48V, and there are different requirements for BMS in the communication field, etc., the retired vehicle power battery cannot be directly used in the whole package as the communication base station backup power supply. It needs to be disassembled and reassembled into a standard module. Apply later.

Low-speed electric vehicles: Low-speed electric vehicles include four-wheel low-speed electric vehicles, electric motorcycles, electric bicycles, etc. This area has a huge market share, which is much larger than that of cars. As of the end of 2017, the number of four-wheeled low-speed electric vehicles in my country has exceeded 2 million, and the applications are mainly based on lead-acid batteries. However, the future of lithium-based four-wheeled low-speed electric vehicles has been very clear; the current number of electric three-wheeled vehicles exceeds 50 million, mainly The application areas are rural areas as productivity tools and urban express logistics vehicles; in terms of electric bicycles, the number of electric bicycles in society has reached 250 million.

China Tower has actively deployed its cascade utilization business and is currently the largest “Party A” in the commercial expansion of cascade utilization. Since October 2015, under the guidance of relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, China Tower has begun to explore power battery recovery and recycling, and has organized the construction of 9 provincial (municipal) branches and 10 manufacturers in advance. There are 57 test sites. The geographical scope of the test sites covers most areas of the country and the main types of base stations. After nearly two years of tracking, the test site is operating well, and the data shows that cascade batteries have good feasibility in the field of communication base stations. Based on the previous pilot, China Tower launched a larger-scale pilot in June 2017, successively in 12 provinces (municipalities) including Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Henan, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Shandong, Tianjin, Shanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan. Pilot projects to replace existing lead-acid batteries with cascade batteries have been carried out at more than 11,000 sites. In January 2018, China Tower was elected as the chairman unit of the Recycling Branch of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Alliance, and signed strategic cooperation agreements with 16 mainstream new energy vehicle companies to further promote the cascade utilization of power batteries and achieve green development. It was officially announced on July 12, 2018: In principle, starting from this year, new lead-acid batteries will no longer be purchased and will be gradually replaced by ladder batteries.

As a major player in the power battery cascade utilization industry, China Tower has long-term and stable demand for decommissioned power batteries. As of the end of 2018, China Tower Corporation had used approximately 1.5GWh of cascade batteries in approximately 120,000 base stations in 31 provinces and cities across the country, replacing approximately 45,000 tons of lead-acid batteries. The company currently has 1.88 million communication base stations, which require about 44Gwh of batteries for power backup; 600,000 peak-shaving and valley-filling stations require about 44Gwh of batteries; and 500,000 new energy stations require about 48Gwh of batteries. A total of about 136Gwh of batteries are required. Calculated based on the 10-year battery replacement cycle of existing station batteries, approximately 13.6Gwh of batteries are required each year. Based on the calculation of 50,000 new base stations each year, it is estimated that new power stations will require about 1.2Gwh of batteries. This demand will undoubtedly make China Tower has become a major battery recycling company. According to Tower Company's plan, it will continue to expand the scale of cascade utilization batteries in 2019. It is expected to apply cascade utilization batteries to about 5GWh and replace about 150,000 tons of lead-acid batteries. It is expected to be able to consume more than 150,000 tons of retired power batteries. 50,000 tons.

(2) Disassembly and recycling: It is more economical to dismantle ternary batteries. Wet technology has increasingly become the mainstream method of decommissioning and utilizing ternary batteries. Disassembly is more economical. The average nickel content of ternary material batteries is 12.1%, cobalt is 3%, and lithium is 1.9%, which is significantly higher than the lithium mines developed and utilized in my country (the average grade of Li2O in lithium mines is 0.8%-1.4%, corresponding to a lithium content of only 0.4%-0.7%). In addition, with the promotion of new energy vehicles and the increase in demand for power R03 Carbon battery, domestic demand for lithium has also exploded, and the price of lithium has soared since 2016. Although my country is rich in lithium resources, its output is small due to its vast territory and difficulty in mining. The supply of lithium resources is limited, and more than 90% of demand relies on imports. At the same time, nickel and cobalt elements are both non-ferrous metals with high value. The price of nickel is currently around 110,000 yuan/ton, and the price of cobalt is around 210,000 yuan/ton. As a strategic resource, cobalt ore resources in my country The current proven reserves are 80,000 tons, accounting for only 1.12% of the world's cobalt reserves. Domestic cobalt ore has low grade, low recovery rate, high production cost, and the gap between supply and demand leads to high dependence on imports. After the echelon utilization is completed, there is a dismantling and recycling process. Completely scrapped batteries also have high recycling value.

The complete process of recycling and dismantling used batteries generally includes four steps: (1) battery pretreatment; (2) sorting of battery materials; (3) enrichment of metals in the positive electrode; (4) separation and purification of metals. Each step includes a variety of treatment methods, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The recovery methods can be divided into three categories according to the extraction process: fire recovery technology, wet recovery technology, and biological recovery technology. By comprehensively utilizing various methods to recycle metal materials, the metal recovery rate and purity can basically reach over 90%.

my country's waste power lithium-ion battery recycling industry mainly relies on wet methods. At present, domestic dismantling, regeneration and recycling technology is becoming increasingly mature. Currently, mainstream participating companies in the battery recycling field include self-built recycling system battery manufacturers represented by CATL, third-party professional recycling and dismantling companies represented by GEM, and Ganfeng Lithium Industry represents an upstream raw material provider for R03 Carbon battery that is actively deploying. As the new energy vehicle industry chain continues to expand, relevant companies are also actively deploying battery material production while entering the field of power battery recycling. Specifically, in terms of dismantling, Hubei GEM and Hunan Bangpu have developed a complete set of automated dismantling processes, and Beijing Saidemei has developed an electrolyte and separator dismantling and recycling process. Recycling is mainly based on hydrometallurgy and physical restoration methods. In terms of hydrometallurgy, Hunan Bangpu developed the "directional circulation and reverse product positioning" process, and Hubei GEM developed the "liquid phase synthesis and high temperature synthesis" process. In terms of physical repair, Saidemei automatically dismantles, crushes and sorts battery cells, and then obtains positive and negative electrode materials through the material repair process. Foreign recycling processes are mainly based on pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Umicore in Belgium, Retriev Technologies in the United States, and Sumitomo Metal Mining in Japan are all well-known lithium battery recycling companies in the world. Their recycling is mainly for valuable metal elements such as lithium, nickel, and copper in power batteries, and other lower-value components. Attention is minimal.

Preliminary pretreatment: Recycled used batteries must first undergo preliminary pretreatment, including discharge, disassembly of metal casings and separation of electrode materials. The recycled used batteries first need to be discharged on professional discharge equipment to remove the residual power. Then the battery is disassembled and the battery shell is peeled off to obtain the battery core material. At the same time, the electrolyte is collected in the process, and the metal shell will Unified recycling and centralized processing. The main discharge methods include immersion method, metal conduction method and cryogenic freezing method. The soaking method is to place used batteries in a conductive solution of a certain concentration for short-circuit discharge. The commonly used conductive material is sodium chloride. This method is simple and feasible and is currently the most commonly used method. The obtained battery core materials will be crushed and screened to further obtain battery positive electrode materials, battery negative electrode materials and separators. Common pre-separation methods include manual disassembly, mechanical crushing, solvent stripping, high-temperature heat treatment, etc. The cathode material will undergo further refinement.

Fire recycling treatment process: waste battery recycling is first subjected to discharge treatment, and then the shell is peeled off and recycled; the battery core is mixed with limestone and coke, and put into a roasting furnace for reduction roasting; organic matter is burned and decomposed to generate carbon dioxide and other gases, most of which are oxidized Lithium is released in the form of vapor and absorbed by water. Metals such as cobalt and copper form carbon-containing alloys. The sediment fixes phosphorus and fluorine. Aluminum is oxidized into slag, and lithium cobalt oxide is reduced to metal cobalt and lithium oxide. Lithium-ion batteries pass through the above process. The alloy produced by processing will include nickel, cobalt, copper and other metals. By continuing to decompose this alloy, high-priced nickel salts and cobalt salts can be separated. The organic matter can also be removed by incineration of the battery. By heating the residual powder and dissolving it in acid, cobalt oxide can be separated. After iron and copper are screened and removed, it can be used to make raw materials for coatings and pigments. In this method, organic solvents and binders are removed through combustion, which is highly likely to generate toxic gases. Pyrometallurgical recycling technology has a large processing capacity, simple process, and can handle a wide variety of batteries; however, the pyrometallurgical process is costly, requires high equipment, and produces a large amount of harmful gases during the treatment process. Wet recycling process: Wet recycling refers to disassembling and pre-processing used batteries and dissolving them in acid and alkali solutions to extract some valuable metal elements, and then extract the remaining valuable metal elements through ion exchange and electrodeposition. Metals, including leaching processes and separation (extraction, precipitation) processes. The purpose of leaching is to use acid to dissolve the metal elements and metal compounds in the lithium-ion battery cathode material, and transfer the metal components in the solid cathode active material to the solution for subsequent separation and recycling. Wet recycling technology has low processing costs, high recovery rate of valuable metals, and good process stability; however, the hydrometallurgical process is long, the processing volume is small, and a large amount of waste liquid is generated during the treatment process, which requires further environmental protection treatment.

Biological recovery treatment process: Biological recovery technology mainly uses microbial leaching to convert useful components of the system into soluble compounds and selectively dissolve them to achieve separation of target components and impurity components, and ultimately recover lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc. Valuable metals. Biological methods have the advantages of low cost, low pollution, and reusability. In the long term, they are an ideal direction for the development of battery recycling. However, the current biological recycling technology is not yet mature, such as the cultivation of high-efficiency bacteria, excessive cultivation cycles, and control of leaching conditions. The problem remains to be solved.

The environmental value of power battery recycling cannot be ignored. Some substances in used power batteries can cause great harm to the ecological environment. Taking lithium iron phosphate batteries as an example, many of the chemical substances they contain are on the national hazardous waste list; organic solvents and their products are harmful to the atmosphere, water, Soil causes serious pollution; accumulation of heavy metals such as copper in the environment will eventually harm humans themselves through the biological chain. If waste power batteries are only disposed of by ordinary garbage disposal methods such as landfill and incineration, it will cause serious pollution to the environment. Therefore, it is of great significance and necessity to rationally recycle waste power batteries.

3. The power battery recycling market is expected to usher in a tens of billions market within two years.Space: Since R03 Carbon battery contain lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum and other materials, recycling the above metals will gain considerable economic value. In this part, we have made a specific calculation of the economics of power lithium battery recycling.

Basic assumptions of the model:

1. The estimated service life of the battery is 3-5 years. We assume that the retirement life of ternary material and lithium iron phosphate batteries is 4 years.

2. With technological advancement, the energy density of ternary materials and lithium iron phosphate batteries has gradually increased.

3. All ternary batteries are used for resource recycling, and all lithium iron phosphate batteries are used for cascade utilization.

4. Assume that the metal contents in the ternary material battery are: nickel 12.1%, cobalt 3%, manganese 7%, lithium 1.9%, aluminum 12.7%, copper 13.3%, and each element is relatively stable.

5. Assume that current technology can achieve a recovery rate of 95% for precious metal materials such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese, an 85% recovery rate for lithium salts, and a 100% recovery rate for metal materials such as aluminum and copper.

6. Based on the 90-day average metal price on July 26, 2019 (electrolytic cobalt 230,000 yuan/ton, nickel 101,900 yuan/ton, manganese 13,200 yuan/ton, lithium 689,600 yuan/ton, aluminum 14,000 yuan/ton) tons, copper 47,200 yuan/ton) to calculate the dismantling and recycling income.

We calculated the market share of ternary material and lithium iron phosphate material batteries based on the China Automobile Association's new energy vehicle production and sales data, and calculated that retired power R03 Carbon battery in 2020 will reach 26.69GWh, of which ternary batteries will be 6.38Wh and lithium iron phosphate batteries will be 20.31GWh. A total of 237,800 tons, corresponding to a market space of 13.1 billion. The retired power R03 Carbon battery in 2025 will reach 134.49GWh, including 100.53GWh of ternary batteries and 33.96GWh of lithium iron phosphate batteries, totaling 803,600 tons, corresponding to a market space of 35.4 billion.

3. Development experience of overseas power battery recycling industry

1. Overseas related policy systems are relatively well developed.

Overseas countries generally require production companies to be responsible for recycling. Since developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan started recycling lead-acid batteries and consumer R03 Carbon battery earlier and established recycling systems that have achieved good results, the recycling of power batteries basically follows the previous recycling experience, forming A producer responsibility derivative mechanism has been established in which power battery manufacturers bear the main responsibility for battery recycling, and the supporting policy system is relatively complete.

European Union: Since 2008, the European Union has mandated battery manufacturers to establish a recycling system for used automobile batteries; at the same time, it has imposed clear legal obligations on manufacturers, importers, sellers, and consumers in the battery industry chain; through the "deposit system" Encourage consumers to voluntarily hand in used batteries. Each EU member state will formulate its own national regulations based on the EU Framework Directives (as shown in the table below). Taking German regulations as an example, producers, consumers, and recyclers in the industrial chain all have corresponding responsibilities and obligations. Battery manufacturers and importers must register with the government, and dealers must organize recycling mechanisms and cooperate with enterprises to introduce free battery recycling outlets to consumers; end users are obliged to hand over used batteries to designated recycling agencies.

Japan: Since 2000, it has stipulated that battery manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of nickel-metal hydride and R03 Carbon battery, and requires battery product designs to be conducive to recycling; because Japanese people have a strong sense of recognition of garbage classification and recycling, retailers and car sales Shopping malls and gas stations can recycle used batteries from consumers for free, and professional recycling companies will decompose the batteries. In terms of laws and regulations, Japan has promulgated a number of relevant laws since 1993 and implemented the "3R" plan (Recycling, Reuse, Reduce), which clearly requires the establishment of a battery "recycling-reuse" recovery system.

United States: The legislation in the United States regarding the production and recycling of used batteries involves federal, state and local levels. Most state governments have adopted a regulatory system designed by the International Battery Association of the United States, which also mandates battery retailers to recycle used batteries. For example, the "Rechargeable Battery Recycling and Reuse Act" promulgated by the California government in 2005 stipulates that all rechargeable battery retailers in California recycle used rechargeable batteries sent by consumers for free. In addition, the American International Battery Association has also developed a deposit system to encourage consumers to actively hand over used battery products.

2. The recycling system has its own characteristics in determining the entities with rights and responsibilities. Under the mechanism where battery companies bear the main responsibility, there are three main ways to build recycling channels: first, battery manufacturers use sales channels to build "reverse logistics" recycling channels; Establish recycling channels by co-building industry associations and alliances; third, specific third-party recycling companies build their own recycling channels. Among them, the EU and the United States mainly build battery recycling channels through industry associations or alliances. In Japan, battery companies mainly build recycling channels through "reverse logistics".

Europe: The GRS Fund, jointly established by the German Battery Manufacturers Association and the Electronic and Electrical Manufacturers Association, is the largest lithium battery recycling organization in Europe. The organization has established more than 170,000 recycling points (including 140,000 retail points) and recycles 46% of used portable batteries in Germany. Battery companies can share the recycling network by paying service fees to the foundation based on output. At present, the GRS fund has 3,500 member companies.

United States: The five major battery companies in the United States initiated the establishment of the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association (PRBA) in 1991, responsible for building battery recycling channels. Currently, it has established more than 40,000 retail stores, more than 30,000 community centralized recycling points and more than 350 A recycling network composed of recycling points of enterprises/institutions. The PRBA association mainly maintains operations through funding from battery companies and consumer deposits. The recycled materials are provided with free industry subsidies and consumer deposits to maintain operations. Recycled materials are provided free of charge to qualified recycling companies for processing.

Japan: Based on the good recycling awareness of Japanese people and the voluntary efforts of participants, battery manufacturers use the service network of retail merchants, car dealers, gas stations, etc. to recycle used batteries from consumers for free and hand them over to professionals. battery recycling company.

3. Current status of foreign echelon utilization and project pilots

Countries attach great importance to the secondary utilization of used batteries. However, due to the small scale of downstream applications, relevant research is still in the initial and pilot stages. Since lithium power batteries have not yet reached the period of large-scale scrapping, research work in various countries is still limited to experiments and demonstration applications; the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries have completed some engineering and commercial projects for the cascade utilization of power batteries.

In terms of recycling, developed countries have more solid and rich relevant research experience. Since the recycling of consumer batteries and home appliances and electronics in Europe, the United States and Japan has achieved positive development in the past, this has laid a good foundation for the recycling of power batteries. At present, most overseas related companies are transformed from professional metal smelting and recycling companies or materials companies. Umicore in Belgium, Retriev Technologies in the United States (originating from Toxco, a company established in 1984), and Sumitomo Metal Mining in Japan are all well-known lithium battery recycling companies in the world. Their recycling is mainly aimed at valuable metal elements such as lithium, nickel, and copper in power batteries, with little attention being paid to other lower-value components. The recycling processes are mainly pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy.

4. Development Trend of my country’s Lithium Battery Recycling Industry

1. The cascade utilization of power batteries is ushering in a commercial breakthrough

Faced with huge market potential and corporate responsibilities, all relevant entities in the lithium battery industry chain are actively deploying power battery recycling. Among them, the cascade utilization field has the highest correlation with batteries, so power battery companies have the most layouts; car companies generally do not pay much attention to this (except BAIC New Energy).

After early demonstration applications, domestic power battery cascade utilization has begun to achieve commercial application breakthroughs. China Tower Corporation took the lead in organizing 10 cascade utilization companies to use decommissioned power battery cascades in base stations. In 2017, the procurement volume of cascade batteries reached 0.3GWh. Xuda New Energy has also achieved market breakthroughs in the grid user-side peak shaving and valley filling, and has taken the lead in establishing a MWh-level industrial and commercial energy storage system project. The cost of the energy storage system is less than 1 yuan/Wh, opening up the field of user-side energy storage. market space.

At the same time, in order to promote the cascade utilization of power batteries, the National Standards Committee issued a number of relevant standards in May and July 2017, which will provide great convenience and guarantee for the cascade utilization of power batteries.

2. Companies in the battery industry chain have begun to extend their layout downwards. The recycling and utilization of power batteries is still on the eve of an outbreak. Since the amount of direct scrapping of domestic lithium power batteries is currently not large, the existing sources of waste batteries are still mainly production waste from battery factories and consumer R03 Carbon battery. From the perspective of layout entities, upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain such as resources, materials, and batteries and new energy vehicles are actively developing recycling layouts, and third-party resource recycling companies are also involved.

As the climax of power battery scrapping approaches, various companies have gradually intensified their investment and construction of factories and capital acquisitions: third-party recycling companies are generally extending into the field of battery materials, and lithium battery companies are fully deploying battery cascade utilization and recycling. Judging from the current market structure, Bangpu and GEM are in the absolute leading position; Ganzhou Haopeng, Jinyuan New Materials, Fangyuan Environmental Protection, Longnan Jintaige, Ganfeng Cycle, etc. are in the second echelon; most of the remaining ones are still in the construction period. or trial operation stage.

3. Alliance cooperation between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain will significantly strengthen cascade utilization companies and battery companies. Recycling companies will also integrate and develop with resource material companies: energy storage is the inevitable direction for the development of cascade companies and a must-win for battery companies. place. Recycling is actively transforming into materials; recycling is also an important development area for resource and materials companies. The mutual penetration, reorganization and integration of these companies will inevitably lead to the rise of a number of new leading battery companies in the future.

In addition, strategic alliances and cooperation between the upstream and downstream industrial chains in the recycling field will be significantly strengthened. Car companies are the ones who control the final market and are responsible for battery recycling, but they do not have sufficient network construction capabilities and objectively need the help of power battery companies. Battery companies and material companies need to share corresponding recycling responsibilities for downstream companies to win customers and markets. And cascade utilization companies must ensure the final recycling of waste batteries in order to gain the trust and cooperation of car companies. From this point of view, due to the responsibility mechanism for power battery recycling and the systemic complexity of battery recycling, strategic alliances and cooperation between the upstream and downstream of the industry chain are an inevitable trend in the future.

Judging from the actual situation, alliance cooperation among leading companies in the industry chain has already begun. In the future, with the realization of the market value of cascade utilization, car companies will gradually become an important leading force in the cooperation of power battery recycling alliances.

4. Recycling companies will participate in co-building recycling networks to obtain waste power battery recycling network systems. The improvement of the waste power battery recycling network system is the foundation and top priority for the development of the waste power battery recycling industry. In the "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles", the state has clear regulations and requirements for the recycling responsibilities of all aspects of generating used power batteries. In the future, waste power batteries will be mainly collected by recycling service outlets organized or authorized by car companies, and handed over to battery manufacturers that have agreed to cooperate with car companies. They will first be used in cascades, and then recycled by cascade companies and handed over to recycling companies for recycling and disposal.

According to the top-level system design, in the future there will be a situation where cascade utilization companies, recycling companies and car companies jointly build recycling service outlets. Cascade utilization companies must strategically cooperate with power battery companies and participate in the construction of recycling networks organized or authorized by car companies in order to obtain a stable source of used power batteries. Recycling companies must establish close strategic partnerships with cascade recycling companies in order to obtain a stable source of used batteries.

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