In the end-of-life phase the risks related to toxicity, fire and high voltage inherent in the traction LIB life cycle become apparent and amplified. LIBs are a green technology but contain different hazardous substances, that can be emitted especially during fire events. These emissions are of high risks since chemical transformation processes are not well understood so far. Additional risk occurs during production of raw materials such as highly fluorinated organic chemicals used in LIBs e.g. for binder materials. Due to the electrochemical stability of fluorinated materials their use might be unavoidable to produce batteries with a long life. However, their production, use and disposal need to be controlled. A high temperature treatment in recycling is a possibility to control emissions in the end-of-life phase. Any laboratory, recycling facility or actor involved in the end-of-life phase of LIBs must carry out risk assessment for their unique activities and equipment and develop and maintain site specific safety protocols for their personal.
This report contains an overview of toxicity risks with lithium ion batteries. It was performed in the context of the Swedish Scope-LIB project financed by Energimyndigheten, Dnr 2019-002597. Also contributions from BASE - Center for Swedish Batteries – An Alliance för Ultra-high Performance Batteries Vinnova project registration number 2019-00064, are gratefully acknowledged