Li-ion Battery Recycling Market 2025-2045: Markets, Forecasts, Technologies, and Players

 

IDTechEx forecasts that the Li-ion battery recycling market will reach US$52B in value by 2045. Li-ion battery (LIB) demand continues to grow across electric vehicle (EV), energy storage system (ESS), and consumer electronics markets. The sustainability of Li-ion batteries relies on their entire lifecycle management, including at end-of-life (EOL). Eventually, LIBs no longer meet their performance requirements and reach EOL. EOL LIBs can be recycled to reclaim the valuable and critical raw materials contained within them, and have these materials reintroduced into new LIB manufacturing. These batteries could also be repurposed for second-life applications, which would delay recycling. Together, these EOL management routes form the LIB circular economy.

 

By recycling LIBs, this can allow new battery manufacturers to shield themselves against volatile raw material prices, domesticate a more stable supply of materials, and meet regulated targets in key regions. Recyclers can also generate revenues from the key products of recycling, including black mass and/or battery-grade metal salts. With all stakeholders recognizing the benefits of LIB recycling, this market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17% over the next twenty years.

 

This IDTechEx report features over 120 announcements made by recyclers in recent years, covering new recycling facility announcements, US$3.1B in funding and investments, and key partnerships. This activity suggests that the LIB recycling market is hyperactive and becoming more crowded, with recyclers expanding their operations globally, developing their technologies, and forming supply and strategic agreements with automotive OEMs, collection logistics players, cell manufacturers, chemical suppliers, stationary ESS and second-life battery players.

 

A significant volume of new LIB recycling capacity was added across the last few years, including mechanical and hydrometallurgical refining capacity. By the end of 2024, global recycling capacity grew to 879 ktpa (kilotonnes-per-annum) of complete EOL LIBs. Much black mass being produced from mechanical recycling in European and North American markets is leaving to the Asia-Pacific where more hydrometallurgical refining capacity exists. Here, the black mass is used as feedstock and refined to produce higher value battery-grade metal salts. Therefore, recyclers in western countries are looking to establish more commercial-scale hydrometallurgical capacity to prevent critical materials leaving their respective regions.

 

This IDTechEx report details activity by key player and by key region across recycling facilities and expansion roadmaps, funding and investments, partnerships, joint ventures (JV), memorandums of understanding (MOU), mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

 

 

Many recyclers and automotive OEMs have traditionally focused on the recovery of high-value metals from the cathode including lithium, cobalt, and nickel from LIB recycling. Technologies for recovering these materials are well established, and encompass mechanical, hydrometallurgical, or pyrometallurgical processes.

 

However, lower value LFP cathodes are less profitable to recycle given the absence of nickel or cobalt in the cathode. With this chemistry starting to penetrate European and US EV markets and dominate ESS markets, other technologies may be needed to facilitate the more economic recycling of this chemistry long-term. Direct Li-ion recycling technologies may offer a lower cost solution for LFP recycling (and other chemistries). However, this technology is in a much earlier stage of development and factors related to chemistry upcycling and demonstrating regenerated cathode performance are key barriers to be overcome. This IDTechEx report details key LIB recycling technologies, and analyses key players' direct LIB recycling technologies, and technology readiness level (TRL), potential cost benefits, advantages and challenges.

 

Given the historical priority on recovering high-value cathode materials, this has contributed to the neglect of recovering anode materials, namely graphite. However, the increasing popularity of LFP, attempts for more localised supply chains, ongoing reliance on China for battery graphite supplies, and continued growth in graphite anode demand, has all started to put focus on the recycling of graphite from LIBs. Several LIB recyclers, alongside several start-ups focused specifically on this, are developing battery-grade graphite recycling technologies. This IDTechEx report provides thorough research into graphite recycling technologies for LIBs, key players in this sector, and a graphite recycling patent analysis.

 

Another key component in LIBs is the binder. PVDF is the most used binder in LIB cathodes. However, it is a PFAS material since it is a fluoropolymer, containing carbon-fluorine bonds. If PFAS is outlawed, this could have an impact on the use of PVDF as a binder in Li-ion batteries. This could impact EV and ESS markets significantly. This IDTechEx report provides thorough discussion and analysis on LIB binders, PFAS restrictions, PVDF alternatives, and binder recycling technologies strategies, and economics.

 

Policies and regulations in key regions will enforce targets for battery collection rates, material recovery efficiencies from recycling, and minimum contents of recycling materials in new batteries. This is particularly the case in the EU, as per the EU Battery Regulation, alongside India with its Waste Management Rules 2022. These targets increase over time, highlighting the importance of first establishing recycling capacity but then the need to expand these capacities and improve the efficiency of the technologies used. This IDTechEx report provides a policy and regulation deep-dive by region and includes analysis into the viability of recyclers and automotive OEMs meeting minimum recycled contents targets, as mandated in the EU Battery Regulation.

 

 

This IDTechEx report provides 20-year market forecasts on the Li-ion battery recycling market for the period 2023-2045, in both volume and market value. Forecast breakdowns are provided by region, cathode chemistry, LIB recycling feedstock / market sector (manufacturing scrap, EVs, energy storage systems, and consumer electronics), and key metals (lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, aluminium, iron, and aluminium and copper current collector foils) recovered. EVs are split into battery EV cars, other EVs (trucks, buses, light-commercial vehicles) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Data is provided in GWh, kilotonnes (kt) and US$B.

 

This IDTechEx report includes 60+ company profiles, including Li-ion battery recyclers, and other players in the LIB circular economy such as collection logistics and transportation companies, graphite recyclers, and players developing advanced or semi-automated battery disassembly technologies.

 

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