Researchers at London-based Circular Energy Storage (CES) have estimated that in 2030, recycling facilities could recover 125,000 tons of lithium, 35,000 tons of cobalt and 86,000 tons of nickel, according to a pv magazine report.

The report also notes that high-volume use of lithium-ion storage in portable electronics, transport and energy applications continues to accumulate scale for the eventual recycling industry for such products. CES analysts believe that over the next decade, 1.2 million tons of lithium-ion batteries will have reached end of life, and the market volume for such batteries will likely have expanded tenfold between 2018 and 2030.

pv magazine has more:

In just over ten years’ time, 1.2 million tons of lithium-ion batteries will have reached end-of-life, according to data published by London-based storage recycling research group Circular Energy Storage.

The analysts considered batteries sold across different sectors and their varying expected life cycles and second life applications to make forecasts about the volume of materials which could be recovered.

Circular Energy Storage estimated that in 2030, recycling facilities could recover 125,000 tons of lithium, 35,000 tons of cobalt and 86,000 tons of nickel. Based on current prices for those materials, that would add up to a $6 billion market. On top of that, between 400,000 and 1 million tons of production scrap could be recovered, according to the researchers.

Read the full article here.