Analysis of working conditions and safety during processing and regeneration of spent lithium-ion batteries
Students Name: Shepida Mar'iana Volodymyrivna
Qualification Level: magister
Speciality: Industrial and Occupational Safety
Institute: Viacheslav Chornovil Institute of Sustainable Development
Mode of Study: part
Academic Year: 2024-2025 н.р.
Language of Defence: ukrainian
Abstract: The master’s qualification work is devoted to the current topic, namely the analysis of conditions, work safety, and the optimization of protective measures during the processing and regeneration of spent lithium-ion batteries. The use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in consumer electronics and electric vehicles is growing rapidly, leading to increased demand for resources, particularly cobalt and lithium. Thus, battery recycling will be necessary not only to reduce energy consumption, but also to eliminate the scarcity of rare resources and eliminate pollution by hazardous components, for sustainable development in the industries related to consumer electronics and electric vehicles. The paper reviews the current status of spent LIB recycling processes, presents the battery structure and components, and summarizes all available single contacts in batch mode, including pretreatment, secondary treatment, and deep recovery. In addition, many problems and perspectives of current recycling processes will be presented and analyzed. It is hoped that these efforts will stimulate further interest in the recycling of spent LIBs and in evaluating its benefits. Lithium-ion batteries are the main type of battery used to power electrified energy-rich vehicles. The weight of lithium-ion batteries is 15-30 percent of the total weight of the machine. They include a significant amount of ferrous and non- ferrous metals, as well as other valuable materials, which should be restored and reused after the end of operation. There is a need to dispose of environmentally hazardous materials that are used in the production of parts of energy-rich cars, for example, lithium-ion batteries, the number of which is constantly increasing from year to year. Disposal of lithium-ion batteries is a new serious and urgent problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible in all branches of industry, including in the agro-industrial complex. The methods of disposal of these elements of energy- rich self-propelled machinery, presented in the work, partially solve this problem. The considered methods of disposal of lithium-ion batteries reflect the real possibilities of their implementation at specialized enterprises for the disposal of equipment and its elements and in organized workshops (areas) created at enterprises for technical support. Recently, the recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted considerable attention due to the increasing demand for the corresponding critical metals/materials and the increasing environmental impact of municipal solid waste disposal. A number of studies have been conducted on the recycling of spent LIBs to obtain either battery materials or individual compounds. In order to increase the effective recovery of materials, physical pre-treatment of various waste streams is usually used to obtain them, providing effective separation for further processing. Subsequently, a metallurgical process is used to extract metals or isolate impurities from a specific waste stream so that recycled materials or compounds can be further obtained, which involves materials engineering principles. In this paper, the current status of spent LIBs is summarized with a view to the entire recycling process, with a particular focus on hydrometallurgy. In addition to understanding various hydrometallurgical technologies, including acid leaching, alkaline leaching, chemical precipitation and solvent extraction, exist. Challenges for process optimization during recycling are critically analyzed. In addition, the energy consumption of various processes is evaluated and discussed. It is expected that this research can provide guidance for improving the recycling of spent LIBs, and this topic can further stimulate for industrial implementation. Therefore, the purpose of this master’s thesis is to analyze the conditions, work safety and optimization of protective measures during the processing and regeneration of spent lithium-ion batteries and to develop measures for its improvement. As a result of the work, an analysis of man-made safety of the technology of processing and regeneration of spent lithium-ion batteries was carried out and measures for its improvement were developed: ? analysis of production risks; ? occupational safety recommendations for technical personnel; ? the economic efficiency of the installation was calculated Key words: spent lithium-ion batteries, fire hazard, battery protection against overcharging, flame propagation, fire suppressing, recovery and regeneration. Literary sources. 1. Zhao Q, Hu L, Li W, Liu C, Jiang M and Shi J (2020) Recovery and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries From New Energy Vehicles. Front. Chem. 8:807. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00807D. 2. Yao, Y.-L., Zhu, M.-Y., Zhao, Z., Tong, B.-H., Fan, Y.-Q., and Hua, Z.-S. (2018). Hydrometallurgical processes for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries: a critical review. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 6:8b03545. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b03545 3. Zeng, X.-L., Li, J.-H., and Singh, N. (2014). Recycling of spent lithium-ion battery: a critical review. Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 1129–1165. doi: 10.1080/10643389.2013.763578 4. Edler, F. (2018). Occupational health and safety during development and usage of lithium-ion batteries. In: Korthauer, R. (eds) Lithium-Ion Batteries: Basics and Applications. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662- 53071-9_21