Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the backbone of the energy transition. Thanks to their high-energy storage/conversion efficiency and energy density, LIBs represent the enabling technology of UN Sustainable Development Goal n. 7 "Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy".
The LIBs’ applications skyrocketing increase makes mandatory minimizing the environmental impact of manufacturing and recycling, and end-of-life (EoL) management by a circular economy approach. Indeed, LIBs manufacturing and EoL disposal still represent environmental hurdles. DiGreen addresses such a challenging goal becoming the seed of the first Italian platform of activities devoted to LIB design for sustainable recycling. Leveraging on the complementary skills of three research units, DiGreen addresses the following two specific objectives through the LIB supply/life chain by novel approaches, in full compliance of the Strategic Research Agenda for Batteries and Italian “Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza” (PNRR) actions devoted to energy transition in the short and medium term:
- To develop an innovative green recycling process based on the use of deep eutectic solvents (DES).
- To set up a Digital Battery Passport Platform (DBPP) designed to sort LIB aged cells and evaluate the techno-economical impact of the recycling/recovery processes.
The results will be critically evaluated by economic and environmental analyses referring to specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and materials processing, which will be deeply investigated by advanced analytical techniques coupled with electrochemical studies.