Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 6941: From the Perspective of Battery Production: Energy-Environment-Economy (3E) Analysis of Lithium-Ion Batteries in China (Sustainability)

With the wide use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), battery production has caused many problems, such as energy consumption and pollutant emissions. Although the life-cycle impacts of LIBs have been analyzed worldwide, the production phase has not been separately studied yet, especially in China. Therefore, this research focuses on the impacts of battery production and builds an energy–environment–economy (3E) evaluation system. Two battery factories in China were selected for an applied research. Case 1 annually produces 0.22 GWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, while case 2 produces 0.024 GWh lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NCM) batteries. The results demonstrate that electricity consumption per GWh LIBs production is 5.24 × 104 and 4.13 × 104 kWh for case 1 and 2, respectively. Major water pollutant emissions come from employees’ lives, and domestic waste accounts for 82%–83% of the total waste. Material costs per GWh NCM battery are 2.77 × 105 yuan, which is more expensive than the LFP battery, whose cathode material is relatively cheaper. Moreover, the cradle-to-gate carbon footprints (CFs) of the GWh LIBs are 41392.17 and 32254.57 kg CO2eq. The lithium compounds are major contributors to carbon emission for two LIBs. Some measures such as cleaner production, scale expansion and increase of environmental protection investment can effectively promote the development of a 3E system for LIB factories.