Battery knowledge · Recycling and end of life
Limiting reagent
The reactant that runs out first and so caps how much product a reaction can make, given the fixed proportions of its formula. When recovered metals are made back into cathode, the scarcest element relative to the recipe limits the batch; the others are left over or topped up with new material.
- Also called
- limiting element
Example
The scarcest element sets the batch
Nickel allows 8120 kg, cobalt 8018 kg and manganese 7940 kg of NMC 622, so manganese limits the batch to 7940 kg.
NMC 622 is LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2: w_Ni 0.363, w_Co 0.122, w_Mn 0.113. Lithium is taken as bought, so it does not limit the batch. Losses in precursor making and purity limits are not modelled.
Explore the graph
Each recovered element could make a different amount of cathode on its own; the batch is the smallest of those amounts.
Nickel allows 8120 kg, cobalt 8018 kg and manganese 7940 kg of NMC 622, so manganese limits the batch to 7940 kg.
m_CAM = min( m_Ni / w_Ni , m_Co / w_Co , m_Mn / w_Mn ), w = mass fraction in the cathode
Illustrative model. NMC 622 is LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2: w_Ni 0.363, w_Co 0.122, w_Mn 0.113. Lithium is taken as bought, so it does not limit the batch. Losses in precursor making and purity limits are not modelled.
Use in Lemonergy
Distinguish recovered material from a qualified product.
This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.
References & further reading
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Topic background · Battery construction, recycling routes and U.S. waste-management context.
- Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles
Gavin Harper et al. · Nature · 2019
Topic background · Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.