Separation of adhesive joints of pouch cells in the context of battery module disassembly

Abstract

The increase in demand for electric vehicles due to the transformation to electromobility will lead to a large number of batteries reaching the end of life and needing to be disposed of. Direct recycling of batteries requires disassembly down to cell level. However, adhesive bonds present a major obstacle to mechanical disassembly. In this work, adhesive bonds between pouch cells are characterised and possible separation processes are identified. Based on this, an industrial system concept for cutting the adhesive bonds, particularly with a rope cut, is developed and tested. A stable and safe process parameter space was identified. The separation process can enable further circular economy strategies such as remanufacturing or reusing the battery cells.