China exploring regulatory and management systems for battery recycling
Published on Wed, 29 Nov 2017
China Daily reported that with the market for new energy vehicles booming, China is now the largest new energy vehicle battery producer. But with the opportunity comes a challenge: how to recycle the growing number of redundant batteries. China is still exploring regulatory and management systems for battery recycling. Industry and Information Technology Minister Mr Miao Wei recently said that China will establish an extended producer responsibility regime, which would make car manufacturers responsible for recycling.
China's total production and sales of new energy vehicles is expected to reach 5 million by 2020. As the average lifespan of power batteries is about five to eight years, according to Gao Gong Industry Institute, a Shenzhen-based research firm, China will see the amount of redundant batteries hit about250,000 metric tons in 2020, almost 20 times that of 2016. The scrapped batteries, if not properly dealt with, will be a waste of resources as well as a source of pollution. An environmentally sustainable and cost efficient recycling method is a universal concern in the new energy vehicle industry.
Mr Xu Shengming, a researcher at Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, said that “There are two main recycling paths. One is hierarchical-recycling: when the battery is no longer usable due to its declining capacity, it can be re-utilized in alternative energy storage stations, low-speed electric vehicles and distributed power generation. The other path is to dismantle, recycle and reuse the components. The recycling and reutilization of batteries will be a huge market. At present, we are in a stage of technical accumulation and research. In the future, recycling technology and technological innovation will be the core competitiveness of companies."
Some new energy vehicle companies and battery suppliers are actively taking action. BAIC BJEV, the new energy vehicle arm of automaker BAIC Motor, has set up a company focusing on the sustainable treatment of redundant batteries and precious metals in Hebei Province. Battery maker CATL is exploring a green chain. When a battery's capacity is less than 80 % of its rated capacity, it is taken to the company's battery energy storage system. After this hierarchical-recycling, they will be dismantled and the components recycled for new batteries. GEM Co Ltd, a Shenzhen-based company dedicated to recycling, has cooperated with new energy vehicle manufacturers such as BYD and Dongfeng.
Source : China Daily