With the popularization of electric vehicles and portable electronic devices, the annual output of waste lithium-ion batteries in China has exceeded 800,000 tons. How to realize their resource utilization has become a key issue for green development. In the waste lithium-ion battery treatment system, the precise recovery of copper resources through crushing technology not only opens up a new path for metal resource regeneration, but also releases diversified empowering values in the fields of economic upgrading, industrial transformation, and ecological protection, injecting strong impetus into sustainable development.
I. Value Reconstruction of Recycled Copper: From Resource Circulation to Industrial Support
(I) Economic Value: A Core Link in Building a Low-Cost Supply Chain
As an important category in the global bulk commodity market, the average price of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) remained above $8,500 per ton in 2024, showing a steady upward trend. Copper in waste lithium-ion batteries has a concentrated occurrence form (tab, copper foil current collector), accounting for about 6%-12% of the total battery weight. Through the "low-temperature crushing - air separation - electrolytic purification" process, the purity of recycled copper can reach 99.8%, far exceeding the industrial copper purity standard (99.5%). For recycling enterprises, taking a production line with an annual processing capacity of 200,000 tons of waste lithium-ion batteries as an example, 15,000 tons of copper can be extracted annually. Calculated at the market average price, the revenue from copper recovery alone can cover 30% of equipment depreciation and operating costs, establishing a stable profit model. For downstream industries such as wire and cable enterprises, the use of recycled copper can reduce raw material costs by 18%-22%. For a large cable manufacturer, after adopting recycled copper in 2024, a single production line saved more than 20 million yuan in costs annually, significantly improving the market competitiveness of its products. In addition, large-scale copper recovery can reduce China's imports of primary copper. In 2024, China's dependence on imported primary copper was 72%. If recycled copper can meet 15% of domestic copper demand, it can reduce import expenditure by about 12 billion yuan annually, alleviating the impact of international copper price fluctuations on the domestic industrial chain.
(II) Industrial Value: A Key Raw Material Guarantee for Supporting High-End Manufacturing
The physical properties of copper make it an "irreplaceable material" in the field of high-end manufacturing - its electrical conductivity is 1.6 times that of aluminum, its thermal conductivity is 3 times that of iron, and it has excellent corrosion resistance and ductility. In the field of electric vehicles, each pure electric vehicle uses about 83 kg of copper (only 20 kg for traditional fuel vehicles), mainly for core components such as battery pack copper foil and drive motor windings. In the energy storage field, each GWh of energy storage batteries requires about 50 tons of copper. In 2024, China's energy storage battery installed capacity reached 150 GWh, corresponding to a copper demand of 75,000 tons. After deep processing, the copper recovered from waste lithium-ion batteries can be directly used to manufacture high-end products such as 0.01mm ultra-thin lithium battery copper foil (a core material for electric vehicle batteries) and high-frequency signal transmission copper strips for 5G base stations. It does not need to go through the long process of "ore - blister copper - refined copper" in primary copper smelting, shortening the production cycle by more than 40%. This direct supply model of "recycled copper - high-end manufacturing" effectively fills the gap in primary copper resources. In 2024, China's recycled copper output reached 120,000 tons, which can meet 30% of the copper demand for energy storage batteries and ensure the stability of the new energy industry supply chain.
II. Benefit Extension of Recycled Copper: From Ecological Protection to Security Guarantee
(I) Environmental Benefits: Green Practice for Achieving "Dual Reduction"
If waste lithium-ion batteries are randomly discarded, the lithium hexafluorophosphate electrolyte they contain will undergo a hydrolysis reaction in the soil, generating toxic substances such as hydrogen fluoride, with a pollution radius of up to 50 meters. After heavy metals such as cobalt and nickel seep into groundwater, the risk of heavy metal exceeding the standard in drinking water for nearby residents increases by 3-5 times. In the process of primary copper mining and smelting, each ton of primary copper requires 220 tons of copper ore, producing 12 tons of wastewater (containing heavy metal ions), 4 tons of sulfur dioxide (atmospheric pollutant), and 6 tons of slag (solid waste). In the process of copper recovery through crushing, the "negative pressure collection - acid-base neutralization - heavy metal solidification" technology can achieve 100% harmless treatment rate of electrolyte and more than 95% heavy metal recovery rate. At the same time, each ton of recycled copper can reduce 15 tons of primary copper mining, corresponding to a reduction of 45 tons of pollutant emissions. In 2024, China's copper recovery from waste lithium-ion batteries reached 120,000 tons, reducing primary copper mining by 1.8 million tons and pollutant emissions by 5.4 million tons, which is equivalent to the ecological purification effect of planting 3 million trees, providing strong support for the dual carbon goals (peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060).
(II) Resource Benefits: Solving the Dilemma of Non-Renewable Resource Shortage
The proven recoverable reserves of global copper resources are about 8.7 billion tons, which can only last for about 35 years at the current mining rate. China's copper resource reserves account for only 3.5% of the world's total. In 2024, China's copper consumption reached 14 million tons, and the contradiction between resource supply and demand is prominent. Copper in waste lithium-ion batteries is a "mobile resource reserve". Through crushing and recovery technology, the service life of copper resources can be extended by 4-6 times, forming a circular system of "resource - product - waste - recycled resource". Based on China's 800,000 tons of waste lithium-ion batteries in 2024, if all copper is recovered, 64,000 tons of copper can be extracted, which is equivalent to reducing 960,000 tons of copper ore mining and saving about 3,200 mu of mine land (calculated at 0.003 mu per ton of ore). In addition, resource recycling promotes the transformation of economic development models. In 2024, the output value of China's recycled copper industry reached 85 billion yuan, an increase of 68% compared with 2020, becoming an important growth point of resource-saving economy.
(III) Industrial Benefits: Driving Industrial Chain Upgrading and Employment Growth
The development of the copper recovery industry from crushing waste lithium-ion batteries has spawned a complete industrial chain of "technology research and development - equipment manufacturing - recycling operation - deep processing". On the technology side, to improve copper recovery efficiency, domestic enterprises have developed "intelligent spectral sorting equipment" (copper recognition accuracy of 98%) and "cyanide-free leaching and purification technology" (zero pollutant discharge), promoting the upgrading of environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry. In 2024, the scale of China's environmental protection equipment market reached 1.2 trillion yuan, of which waste battery recycling equipment accounted for 15%. On the employment side, the recycling industry is a combination of labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries. Taking an enterprise with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of waste lithium-ion batteries as an example, it needs to be equipped with positions such as spectral analysis engineers, equipment operation and maintenance personnel, and environmental testing personnel. A single factory can create 600 jobs. In 2024, China's waste lithium-ion battery recycling industry drove more than 150,000 jobs, alleviating the social employment pressure. On the downstream side, recycled copper can be directly supplied to industries such as new energy vehicles and electronic information, forming a "recycling - processing - application" closed loop. In 2024, the application proportion of recycled copper in China's new energy industry reached 28%, an increase of 16 percentage points compared with 2020, promoting the transformation of industrial structure towards greenization and high-endization.
(IV) Security Benefits: Building a Solid Barrier for Energy and Industrial Security
The new energy industry is a strategic emerging industry in China, and copper is a "strategic resource" in the new energy industrial chain. The stability of its supply directly affects industrial security. Currently, the international copper market is significantly affected by geopolitics. In 2024, due to the mine strike in Chile (the world's largest copper producer), the international copper price rose by 12% in a single month, causing huge cost pressure on domestic new energy enterprises. Through recovering copper from waste lithium-ion batteries, new copper resource supply channels can be added. In 2024, China's recycled copper accounted for 8.6% of domestic copper consumption. If the proportion of recycled copper increases to 20% by 2030, it can reduce imports of primary copper by 2.8 million tons and lower the import dependence to below 50%. At the same time, technological breakthroughs in the recycling industry have improved China's independent and controllable capacity of resources. In 2024, the number of patents for copper recovery technology from waste lithium-ion batteries in China accounted for 65% of the world's total, enabling China to grasp the core right to speak in the field of resource recycling and providing a solid guarantee for national energy security and industrial security.
In conclusion, copper recovery from crushing waste lithium-ion batteries is not only an innovative path for resource regeneration, but also an important starting point for promoting the coordinated development of economy, industry, environmental protection, and security. In the future, it is necessary to accelerate the improvement of the "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system" (promoting automobile enterprises to participate in waste battery recycling), increase investment in research and development of technologies such as intelligent sorting and green purification, and cultivate large-scale recycling enterprises, so as to make the recycled copper industry a "green engine" for sustainable development and inject new momentum into China's high-quality development.
