Circularity of DCC materials – case study on three energy storage solutions
2022 (English)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
Due to growing concerns about the environmental impacts of fossil fuels and the capacity and resilience of energy grids around the world, engineers and policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to energy storage solutions1. In turn, the huge demand for materials for such storage systems will require a considerable energy input in extraction, processing and materials formulation, and new and sustainable electrochemical systems need to be developed2. Current report is the result of the exploration work where the circularity and environmental potentials of biobased energy storage solutions were analysed in the form of iterative interviews with stakeholders along the energy storage and packaging value chains, complemented by literature research. The work was performed within the scope of Digital Cellulose Center (DCC) research center3 in the sub-project 1 “Circularity of DCC materials” of the Theme 1: Design for a circular bioeconomy. Totally three systems were selected and analysed in the form of three respective case studies: • Case study I: Biobased battery (Chemical energy storage system) • Case study II: Biobased printed supercapacitor (Electrochemical energy storage system) • Case study III: Intelligent packaging (Chemical or electrochemical energy storage for fiber-based packaging) Each case study was put into the life cycle context where aspects such as legislation, circularity potential and potential environmental impact were discovered. The biobased battery for large-scale grid storage applications was classified as an industrial battery with collection rate requirement of 75% at end-of-life, of which 50% to be materially recycled. The biobased printed supercapacitor was classified as an electric and electronic equipment (EEE) with collection rate requirement of 65%, of which recovery and recycling / preparing for reuse targets vary between 55% - 85% depending on application. The material recycling target for the fiber-based intelligent packaging is 85% since being perceived as a paper-based packaging it would enter paper packaging recycling stream rather than entering the recycling stream of Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). In next steps of this exploratory journey, the compositions of the respective energy storage solutions were identified, including biobased content and recycling potential on the short- and long-term, compared to their benchmark solutions where possible. Today, the material recycling processes for batteries and WEEE are strongly economically driven: the material components that are considered as valuable by recyclers are mainly base metals (e.g., aluminium, steel) and to low extent critical raw materials (e.g., cobalt, nickel). The biobased energy storage solutions though do not contain any critical raw materials and use base metals to a less extent. This is a dilemma where the material value of the biobased, renewable materials (more sustainable materials by origin) is not favourable in the end-of-life processes of today and therefore will be lost (i.e., incinerated). A more balanced approach to such dilemma is urged in order to facilitate both economic and environmental incentives in the energy storage value cycles. Current Battery and WEEE directives do not promote the recycling of materials that are critical or have a high environmental burden, which in practice results in loss of those materials, not least due to lack of economy in recycling processes. Moreover, the legislation needs to be adapted in order to meet innovative development in the area. It can be relevant to introduce a cross-sectoral category ‘Biobased energy storage solutions’ in the upcoming legislation with the aim to encourage use of more abundant, biobased materials and thus decouple energy storage applications from use of critical raw materials.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022. , p. 50
Keywords [en]
Energy storage, biobased battery, printed supercapacitor, intelligent packaging, circular economy, recycling, environmental assessment, hotspots, biobased electronics, R&D, cellulose, MET matrix, ecodesign.
National Category
Energy Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-58959OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-58959DiVA, id: diva2:1647789
2022-03-282022-03-282023-06-09Bibliographically approved