Sustainable battery engineering: single-step battery recycling, battery modeling, and battery electrolyte analysis

Sederholm, Jarom G.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132784 Copy

Description

Title

Sustainable battery engineering: single-step battery recycling, battery modeling, and battery electrolyte analysis

Author(s)

Sederholm, Jarom G.

Issue Date

2025-11-30

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Braun, Paul V

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Kenis, Paul JA

Committee Member(s)

• Yang, Hong
• Su, Xiao

Department of Study

Chemical & Biomolecular Engr

Discipline

Chemical Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Batteries
• Li-ion Batteries
• Battery Sustainability
• Battery Recycling
• Battery Modeling
• Battery Electrolyte

Abstract

The application of battery systems is continually growing. An energy device originally just found in phones and laptops moved to electric vehicles and continues to move on into other applications on earth and potentially in space. As batteries become more prolific, the problems surrounding batteries become more pressing and obvious. One of those problems that is becoming more dire is battery sustainability. Battery sustainability, in terms of this thesis, can be broken into two issues. The first issue is concerned with end-of-life batteries. Battery disposal can be environmentally harmful and costly. Battery recycling is an attractive alternative as it provides a new feed stream for future batteries while removing old batteries from landfills. However, battery recycling brings its own costs and environmental impacts. In this thesis, single-step recycling, a method to recover battery materials in a cost effective and environmentally sustainable manner, is introduced. This method is shown to produce battery materials that perform on par with pristine materials. The cost and environmental impact of this process is compared to current industry and academic recycling methods and found to be less costly and environmentally harmful. The application of this method is extended to other battery chemistries and battery materials. The single-step recycling methodology is applied to separate lithium cobalt oxide from a manganese rich bath while simultaneously producing LiMnO2. Potential recovery of LCO from NMC is discussed. Carbon black is shown to not produce off-gases and remains in the molten salt. The second issue is how to ensure batteries perform safely for a full battery lifetime. Battery modeling is a tool to help solve this issue. Pulsed-based modeling is utilized in this work to explore how different battery chemistries respond to several temperatures and discharging rates. The results lay the groundwork for potential degradation modeling for batteries. However, battery modeling is only powerful if the model is accurate. This is an issue in battery thermal modeling where there is a lack of thermal data on an important battery material, battery electrolytes. The data in this thesis help fill the gap in published thermophysical properties of battery electrolytes. Immersion thermo-optic phase spectroscopy (I-TOPS) is introduced as a novel and effective tool for determining the thermal conductivity of liquids, liquid mixtures, and battery electrolytes. I-TOPS and other measurement techniques are then applied to common battery solvents and electrolyte compositions including systems with dimethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate, dimethoxyethane, 1,3-dioxolane, lithium hexafluorophosphate, and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide. The results indicate that solvent composition impacts thermal conductivity differently in the ethylene carbonate/dimethyl carbonate mixtures than in the dimethoxyethane/1,3-dioxolane mixtures. Similarly, the electrolyte salt used in electrolyte systems affects the thermal conductivity differently. Battery sustainability will continue to be a problem to solve. There are several aspects that still need to be addressed and potential methods to be explored. As such, several avenues for increasing the impact of the battery recycling method covered here and potential extensions in application for the battery modeling are discussed the Conclusion of this thesis.

Graduation Semester

2025-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132784

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 Jarom Sederholm

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