Stefan Wass has been with the Gränges Group since 2000 and have hold several different positions since then. Current position is as Senior Technical and Application Manager at Gränges Finspång AB. Stefan received his MSc in Materials Science at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1994.
The role of Aluminium in a Li-ion battery cell – a carbon footprint study
Materials for Li-ion batteries have attracted deep interest in the past decades, and substantial efforts have been dedicated to developing better, safer, and more sustainable materials and processes. Most of these efforts have focus of cathode and anode materials, the heart of Li-ion technology, along with electrolyte solutions and separators. However, from a carbon footprint perspective, the metals used as current collectors and battery casing also play an important role.
Aluminium, commonly used as cathode foil and battery casing, is generally regarded as a green material based on its recyclability, light weight, good conductivity, etc. However, production of primary aluminiumis energy intensive; re-melting of aluminium on the other hand requires only 5% of the energy compared to primary aluminium production. The choice of raw material and energy source used to produce it have a fundamental impact on the carbon footprint for an aluminium product.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), as a method to assess the environmental impacts of products in a life cycle perspective in accordance with ISO 14025 standard and a “cradle to gate” approach have been used in a third-party validated model to estimate the carbon footprint of different aluminium solutions for cathode foil and casing.
This study introduces the concepts of carbon footprint calculations for aluminium used in battery cell manufacturing, presents the outcome of these calculations, and compares these results with target cell carbon footprint (expressed as CO2 equivalent emissions per kWh)set by leading European battery producers.
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