Environmental Benefits of Closed-Loop Recycling for Power Batteries: A Life Cycle Assessment of Regenerated Lithium-Ion Batteries

With the rapid expansion of new energy vehicles, the large-scale retirement of power batteries has become an emerging challenge for resource security, environmental governance, and low-carbon transition. In the context of increasingly strengthened battery recycling regulations, extended producer responsibility, and digital traceability systems, closed-loop recycling has become an important pathway to reduce primary resource dependence and improve the sustainability of the electric vehicle supply chain.

This study establishes a comprehensive life cycle assessment framework to evaluate the environmental benefits of regenerated power batteries by comparing regenerated batteries with virgin batteries. Two representative battery chemistries, lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, are examined to reveal differences in recycling benefits caused by material composition and recovery value. The results show that regenerated lithium ternary batteries achieve reductions of more than 90% in multiple environmental impact categories compared with virgin batteries, indicating significant environmental advantages. In contrast, regenerated lithium iron phosphate batteries show relatively limited benefits in several categories, particularly marine eutrophication and fossil resource scarcity, suggesting that the environmental performance of closed-loop recycling is strongly chemistry-dependent.

Furthermore, the synergistic effect between pollutant reduction and carbon mitigation is more pronounced in regenerated lithium ternary batteries, mainly because the recovery of critical metals can avoid substantial upstream environmental burdens. Scenario analysis further demonstrates that integrating clean energy transition with resource optimization can generate greater environmental benefits than resource optimization alone. These findings provide methodological support for assessing closed-loop battery recycling and offer practical implications for improving recycling governance, promoting circular economy development, and supporting carbon neutrality goals. Future studies should further consider diverse recycling technologies, regional electricity mixes, upstream supply-chain impacts, and uncertainty analysis to achieve a more comprehensive environmental evaluation.