Unlocking the Potential of Electrolyte Recovery from Battery Waste: A Promising Path to Sustainable and Safe Li-Ion Batteries

The growing use of rechargeable batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries, has created new challenges in battery waste management. The recycling of waste batteries has garnered significant interest worldwide as a means of alleviating resource constraints and mitigating the harmful environmental impacts. Recycling resources from spent batteries can help in establishing a sustainable value chain for materials required for battery production. While metal recovery has been widely studied, electrolyte recovery remains underexplored despite its hazardous nature. Electrolytes contain flammable and toxic components, such as lithium hexafluorophosphate. Electrolyte recovery presents challenges, including decomposition and evaporation during the recycling process. It can produce various harmful components, such as hydrogen fluoride and phosphoryl fluoride, which can be released into the exhaust gas stream. Electrolyte recovery can help prevent hazardous chemicals from being released into the environment. Electrolyte recovery will not only contribute to resource conservation but also pollution reduction. This review examines current strategies for electrolyte recovery from spent batteries, evaluating their benefits and drawbacks, as well as the challenges and potential solutions for more effective implementation.