Selection of impact assessment method and impact categories for Life Cycle Assessment of Li-Ion batteries

Decarbonisation is one of the most discussed issue nowadays, and the strategy of green energy transition has become the priority in the industries as it contributes to around 73% of the greenhouse gas emissions. The market demand of the lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has drastically increased since the establishment of the green energy transition strategy. LIBs help to overcome the shortcomings of the renewable energy sources, especially those variable renewable energy sources, by acting as intermittent energy storage. The concerns regarding the environmental issues are increasing and hence, a guidance regarding the life cycle assessment (LCA) of LIBs has become necessary to offer a holistic environmental assessment of LIBs.
The aim of this study is to select the most relevant impact categories with the recommended life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models. The LCIA methodologies were reviewed and three most applicable methodologies were selected, namely ReCiPe Midpoint (Hierarchist), Environmental Footprint (EF) 3.1 and CML 2016. The 13 impact categories that were considered in these three methodologies were evaluated based on the evaluation criteria developed. As a result, the top 6 impact categories were chosen, i.e., (i) Climate change, (ii) Abiotic resource depletion - elements, (iii) Exotoxicity, (iv) Abiotic resource depletion - fossils, (v) Photochemical ozone creation and (vi) Particulate matter. The characterisation models adopted in the three methodologies were further evaluated to select the most suitable models for each of the impact category. According to the result, the recommended models were mostly adopted in ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) and EF 3.1. None of the models in CML 2016 were recommended for the top 6 impact categories due to the shortcomings presented in the CML models. The findings were compared with the results from the state-of-the-art evaluation mehtods to make sure that they are aligned with the status quo. Based on the interpreted outcome, the findings on selected impact categories and the recommended methods show very promising correlation with the available publications.