With growing battery production volumes, more production waste from battery production has to be treated. Due to the high value, purity and embodied energy of the materials, direct recycling integrated into the process chain has been identified as a strategy to consistently reduce the environmental impact.

The methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used to quantify the environmental impacts based on process data and background data sets. Relevant process data include material and energy flows, with energy requirements being particularly relevant in the case of direct recycling, as little material is usually required for material recovery in direct recycling.

To quantify the energy flows, many publications use an approach based on the connected load of a machine with a TRL as high as possible. In addition, auxiliary requirements such as exhaust air cooling are often added to the machine power demand via a standard factor related to the nominal power demand. Since machines have different energy demand curves, machine manufacturers determine the nominal power differently, and the need for auxiliaries is also highly dependent on the type of machine, large deviations from reality are to be expected.

This publication describes a methodology that determines the energy requirements on a machine-specific basis. Realistic load curves and plant-specific requirements for auxiliary equipment are taken into account. Both methods are then applied to the same process chain. The differences in the determined energy requirements are compared.