Abstract
South Africa lacks a developed end-of-life (EOL) lithium-ion battery (LIB) waste management value chain system. EOL LIBs are considered a hazardous waste stream because of the toxic material they are made of which, when disposed of on land, can contaminate the soil and pose threats to human health. Therefore, research that identifies the role of the existing EOL LIB value chain is necessary to enhance the establishment of such a chain, which should include the relevant techniques to foster the reuse and recycling of EOL LIBs in the context of South Africa. This dissertation aims to assess the current landscape of the EOL LIB value chain in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and to investigate feasible ways in which to harvest value from EOL LIBs by assessing their state of health (SOH) and the recycling options suitable in the CoJ context. Three main research questions will be assessed in this dissertation, namely: (1) What are the roles of the informal sector, repair shops, and recyclers in the landfilling and processing of EOL LIBs in the Greater Johannesburg Area? (2). Which easily applicable measurements can be applied to estimate the SOH of lithium-ion batteries? (3). Which elementary methods could be employed in treating EOL LIBs in their transformation from a hazardous to a stable state? To address these research questions, the study used a mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data in the form of questionnaires was used to investigate the landscape of LIB disposal and processing in Johannesburg. Laboratory experiments to assess the state of health of EOL LIBs and to recover the associated material were used as quantitative data to estimate the SOH and to evaluate elementary methods for treating these batteries. The findings revealed that repair shops receive EOL LIB feedstock through repair services, with the spent batteries then being discarded. Waste reclaimers receive LIB feedstock from e-waste streams and discard the spent LIBs. The methods to determine the remaining capacity and internal resistance of EOL LIBs were considered effective and feasible as a means to measuring the SOH with an i-charger device and to assess the options for reuse and recycling. Material recovery experiments were feasible for anode electrodes, in that they successfully separated the graphite from the copper foils into two clean fractions. Simple water bath experiments, which could be integrated into the identified EOL LIB value chain in CoJ, were used for this purpose. The findings of this dissertation show that there is a gap between consumer use and the proper disposal of EOL LIBs. SOH estimation and material recovery techniques could potentially activate the spent LIB recovery value chain, but only as long as the methods applied in this research project are transferred to the informal stakeholders (e.g., waste reclaimers), and to the formal entities, which are compliant with the promulgated government regulations on the EOL management of LIBs in South Africa.