A crucial part of our new energy transition is the usage of batteries to store energy, either as backup power for when the grid goes down or to reduce energy costs, to stabilize the grid or in EV’s. This transition will involve trade-offs and by adhering to ESG principles companies can make sure their governance covers factors that make sure that the net result of this transition is positive from the environment and social angles.
Many battery manufacturing companies claim their batteries will be good for the environment, however they fail many of the ESG markers.
One way to ensure batteries or indeed any other product will be good for the environment overall is to make sure that all parts of a products life from a cradle to grave or life cycle assessment perspective are taken into account.
This includes taking into account;
- Raw Material Extraction
- Manufacturing
- Internal and external production processes
- Transportation
- Life usage
- End-of-Life disposal
- System Boundary to ensure all relevant stages of the lifecycle are included
To conduct a comprehensive life cycle analysis, data on energy consumption, emissions, waste generation, and other relevant factors are collected and analyzed. This analysis provides insights into the environmental performance of energy storage batteries and can help identify areas for improvement in terms of sustainability and environmental impact reduction.
Raw material sourcing
The initial mining of the battery components are often not mentioned in a comparison of technologies. Often environmental and health damage to the environment and people of the country where the raw components are mined is not included in the cost equation as it is not born by the manufacturing company. Mining of lithium and cobalt is well documented for the environmental and health damage it causes.
End of Life Disposal
Battery disposal is another factor that is often not taken into account currently when batteries are sold. This is changing worldwide and in many countries in Europe now battery disposal costs need to be accounted for in the battery sale price. This is likely to become law in Australia in the near future and it has been estimated it may be several hundred dollars per kWh for lithium batteries to be recycled.
It is necessary to include end of life costs as these may not be included in the purchase cost of the battery (although this is changing). Not all batteries have components that make recycling economically viable which greatly affects the disposal cost. If a battery is able to fit into current recycling systems at a profit or cost neutral cost it is more likely to be recycled and not end up in landfill. This is a problem with many lithium-ion batteries in that different types of lithium-ion battery require different recycling processes and the amount of recoverable materials are often far below what it costs to recycle them.
Life Cycle Assessment of SoNick battery
A life cycle assessment was done on the SoNick battery in 2022 to ascertain the impacts on the environment of all phases of the battery’s life cycle, from raw material acquisition to product disposal at the end of life. These results have been calculated and validated by the Department of Innovative Technologies of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, according to the requirements of ISO 14040.
Logistics
Both inbound and outbound logistics were measured to include bringing in supplies or materials as well as moving product to customers.
Battery production
The modelling of the entire battery life cycle was carried out in cooperation with FZSoNick by clearly
defining each process of the value chain and the associated flows. This is essential to make sure all phases of the battery’s life cycle are accounted for, not just manufacturing costs.
Battery use phase
The energy use phase of the battery took into account all usage costs of the battery operation as well as expected cycle life and lifetime. This is a critical component of the life cycle analysis as a battery that has a much shorter lifespan and may not be recyclable at the end of its life will have a far greater cost for its usage component.
The energy consumption in the use phase of the battery along its whole lifecycle covered:
– the power supply to the BMS (11W);
– the power supply to the ohmic heater under (130W), which is responsible for maintaining the temperature required for battery operation. This will vary depending on surrounding ambient temperatures.
Theses power requirements can come from an outside source or from the battery itself when it is in operation if required. The internal chemical reaction supplies this power in usage mode.
The SoNick batteries doesn’t require any cooling unlike other technologies.
End-of-Life: recovery and disposal operations
The SoNick battery has been analysed and all components can be reutilised at a profit so recyclers will be able to recycle them today. No processes specific to the battery are needed and there are no specific safety issues with recycling the batteries due to chemistry or components.
Environmental impact
The environmental performance of the system was analysed and the following table was produced.
Comparison Benchmarking
In order to have a comparative benchmark between other battery technologies and sodium Sodium-Nickel-Chloride battery technology the study analysed technologies and expressed the result as kg CO2 eq/kWh for global warming potential (GWP).
The study demonstrates that the activities carried out within the SoNick battery value chain are much less impactful than other battery chemistries and clearly shows the environmental benefits of utilising the Sodium-Nickel-Chloride battery technology over other technologies.
It can be seen, the impact of the batteries produced by FZSoNick is significantly lower than the data of competing technologies