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Piloting Collection and Treatment Infrastructure for End-of-Life Lithium-ion Batteries: Insights from the FREE4LIB and REBELION Projects
The rapid growth of electric mobility and portable electronics is generating increasing flows of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, while collection and treatment infrastructures are still struggling to adapt to new safety, logistics and regulatory requirements. This contribution presents pilot activities carried out within the EU projects FREE4LIB and REBELION, aimed at supporting the development of a robust end-of-life value chain for lithium-ion batteries.
The work focuses on two critical nodes of the chain: collection at distributors and handling at treatment plants. In collaboration with producers, retailers and waste operators, we are deploying dedicated containers at distributor premises to facilitate the safe and user-friendly collection of spent batteries and battery-containing products. In parallel, we are testing innovative container solutions at treatment facilities, in real operating conditions, to better understand safety needs, space constraints, logistics patterns and integration with pre-treatment and dismantling operations.
Feedback gathered through these pilots is being used to co-design an enhanced container concept within the projects, tailored to the actual requirements of the lithium-ion battery value chain. The paper will discuss the methodology adopted, key insights from stakeholders, and the main technical and operational design criteria emerging from the pilots (e.g. fire prevention, segregation, ergonomics, transport optimization, traceability).
By grounding technological development in concrete field experience, the pilots in FREE4LIB and REBELION contribute to closing existing gaps in the end-of-life management of lithium-ion batteries and to supporting the scale-up of safe and efficient recycling routes in Europe.
The work focuses on two critical nodes of the chain: collection at distributors and handling at treatment plants. In collaboration with producers, retailers and waste operators, we are deploying dedicated containers at distributor premises to facilitate the safe and user-friendly collection of spent batteries and battery-containing products. In parallel, we are testing innovative container solutions at treatment facilities, in real operating conditions, to better understand safety needs, space constraints, logistics patterns and integration with pre-treatment and dismantling operations.
Feedback gathered through these pilots is being used to co-design an enhanced container concept within the projects, tailored to the actual requirements of the lithium-ion battery value chain. The paper will discuss the methodology adopted, key insights from stakeholders, and the main technical and operational design criteria emerging from the pilots (e.g. fire prevention, segregation, ergonomics, transport optimization, traceability).
By grounding technological development in concrete field experience, the pilots in FREE4LIB and REBELION contribute to closing existing gaps in the end-of-life management of lithium-ion batteries and to supporting the scale-up of safe and efficient recycling routes in Europe.
