Quantifying the Life-Cycle Health Impacts of a Cobalt-Containing Lithium-Ion Battery PDF

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02084-3 SOCIETAL LCA Quantifying the life‑cycle health impacts of a cobalt‑containing lithium‑ion battery Rickard Arvidsson1 · Mudit Chordia1 · Anders Nordelöf1 Received: 10 March...

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02084-3 SOCIETAL LCA Quantifying the life‑cycle health impacts of a cobalt‑containing lithium‑ion battery Rickard Arvidsson1 · Mudit Chordia1 · Anders Nordelöf1 Received: 10 March 2022 / Accepted: 3 August 2022 / Published online: 11 August 2022 © The Author(s) 2022, corrected publication 2023 Abstract Purpose Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been criticized for contributing to negative social impacts along their life cycles, especially child labor and harsh working conditions during cobalt extraction. This study focuses on human health impacts — arguably the most fundamental of all social impacts. The aim is to quantify the potential life-cycle health impacts of an LIB cell of the type nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC 811) in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY), as well as to identify hotspots and ways to reduce the health impacts. Methods A cradle-to-gate attributional life-cycle assessment study is conducted with the functional unit of one LIB cell and human health as the sole endpoint considered. The studied LIB is produced in a large-scale “gigafactory” in Sweden, the cobalt sulfate for the cathode is produced in China, and the cobalt raw material is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Potential health impacts from both emissions and occupational accidents are quantified in terms of DALY, making this an impact pathway (or type II) study with regard to social impact assessment. Two scenarios for fatality rates in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC are considered: a high scenario at 2000 fatalities/year and a low scenario at 65 fatalities/year. Results Applying the high fatality rate, occupational accidents in the artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC contribute notably to the total life-cycle health impacts of the LIB cell (13%). However, emissions from production of nickel sulfate (used in the cathode) and of copper foil (the anode current collector) contribute even more (30% and 20%, respectively). These contribu- tions are sensitive to the selected time horizon of the life-cycle assessment, with longer or shorter time horizons leading to considerably increased or decreased health impacts, respectively. Conclusions In order to reduce the health impacts of the studied LIB, it is recommended to (i) investigate the feasibility of replacing the copper foil with another material able to provide anode current collector functionality, (ii) reduce emissions from metal extraction (particularly nickel and copper), (iii) increase the recycled content of metals supplied to the LIB manufacturing, and (iv) improve the occupational standards in artisanal mining in the DRC, in particular by reducing fatal accidents. Keywords Life cycle assessment · Disability-adjusted life years · Occupational accidents · Cobalt mining · Nickel- manganese-cobalt (NMC) · Human health · Social risks 1 Introduction Like diamonds of certain origins, cobalt mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been associated with the noun “blood” in news media Communicated by Ralph K. Rosenbaum (Kennedy 2017; Lindberg and Andersson 2019). The DRC currently provides around 70% of the global cobalt * Rickard Arvidsson [email protected] supply, partly through artisanal mining, which provides livelihood for almost 200,000 people (BGR 2019; OECD 1 Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University 2019). Although not counted among of the traditional of Technology, Vera Sandbergs Allé 8, 41296 Gothenburg, 3TG conflict minerals (i.e., tantalum, tin, tungsten, and Sweden 13 Vol:.(1234567890) The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 1107 gold), cobalt mined in the DRC has been associated This study focuses on the contribution of LIBs to human with numerous health and social impacts, including health impacts — arguably the most fundamental of all social high exposure to cobalt and other toxicants from mining impacts. The question that the study aims to answer is as (including dust), occupational accidents, long working follow: How large are the potential negative health impacts hours, child labor, corruption, and displacement of from an LIB along its life cycle, which are the hotspots and indigenous people (Banza et al. 2009; Elenge et al. 2011; how can the health impacts be reduced? In particular, the Elenge and De Brouwer 2011; Tsurukawa et al. 2011; study seeks to investigate the relative contribution to potential Amnesty International 2013; Elenge 2013; Amnesty health impacts from cobalt in a modern low-cobalt LIB. To International and Afrewatch 2016; Faber et al. 2017; answer this question, an LCA of an LIB of the type NMC 811 Banza Lubaba Nkulu et al. 2018; BGR 2019; Lindberg is performed from cradle to gate, with human health as the and Andersson 2019; Sovacool 2019; Bamana et al. 2021). endpoint. Specifically, potential health impacts from emissions These impacts are particularly prevalent in artisanal, and occupational accidents are assessed using the quantitative small-scale cobalt mining, which currently accounts for disability-adjusted life years (DALY) indicator. Since there is approximately 20% of the cobalt extracted in the DRC (Al a causal link from the release of emissions and accidents to Barazi et al. 2017), while the industrial, more mechanized DALY, this study applies a so-called impact pathway approach extraction generally has a considerably lower occurrence (Benoît Norris et al. 2020) to social impact assessment. The of, e.g., child labor. At the same time, positive social authors are not aware of any previous quantitative assessments externalities of artisanal mining have also been reported, of potential health impacts for LIBs, although there exist a few including reduced poverty, increased state revenue, qualitative health assessments of LIBs and/or cobalt where a increased services, and collective occupational identity so-called reference scale approach (Benoît Norris et al. 2020) (Tsurukawa et al. 2011; de Haan and Geenen 2016; to social impact assessment is applied. Mancini et al. (2021) Sovacool 2019). For example, while many Congolese assessed “occupational health and safety” impacts of artisanal struggle to earn 1 US$/day, artisanal miners generally earn mining of cobalt together with 13 other social impacts, using more than 3 US$/day (Tsurukawa et al. 2011; de Haan a five-point ordinal scale going from “no noted risks” to and Geenen 2016). There are also some social impacts “systematic and grave abuse.” The latter category was assigned occurring in other low-income countries which are to the occupational health and safety of artisanal cobalt mining. seemingly absent in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC, Thies et al. (2019) also assessed a range of social impacts of an example being forced labor (Tsurukawa et al. 2011; an LIB pack (NMC type), including “risks of occupational OECD 2019). This means that despite harsh conditions, toxics and hazards,” using the ordinal-scale system from the the work is not undertaken without consent or under the Social Hotspots Database, which is a widely used database in threat of a penalty, such as violence or retention of identity social LCA. That scale contains “no risk” (which translates to papers (International Labour Office 2016). 0.0), “low risk” (0.1), “medium risk” (1), “high risk” (5), and The current main use of cobalt is in lithium-ion batteries “very high risk” (10). They concluded that Chinese production (LIBs), which have become the dominant technology for of the LIBs yielded higher risks of occupational toxics and rechargeable energy storage (OECD 2019). Commercialized hazards than German production, even if the raw materials by Sony Co. and others in the early 1990s, LIBs have (including cobalt) were sources responsibly. Similarly, enabled many products of high significance in contemporary Sharma and Manthiram (2020) conducted a qualitative social societies, such as mobile phones, laptops, and electric assessment of an NMC 811 and an LFP battery based on vehicles (Li et al. 2018). Different LIB chemistries exist publications from human rights organizations, newspapers, in the market today based on the type of application, such academics, and community members. They concluded that as lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), lithium producing the cobalt required for 26 million electric vehicles nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), lithium cobalt by 2030 would results in 25,000 children needing to work by oxide (LCO), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and lithium hand for 10 h per day in the DRC, as well as to toxic pollution manganese oxide (LMO), of which the NMC, NCA, and of the local community from cobalt mining. Consequently, they LCO chemistries contain cobalt in varying proportions recommend that the use of cobalt in LIBs must be eliminated (Porzio and Scown 2021). Most of the currently used LIBs entirely. in electric vehicles are NMC 111 (sometimes called NMC 333), NMC 532, or NMC 622, where the numbers represent the relative shares of nickel, manganese, and cobalt in the 2 Method and materials cathode, respectively (Harper et al. 2019). However, there is a strive towards further reducing the cobalt content of In order to assess the magnitude of the potential health NMC batteries, as in the more recently developed NMC 811 impacts of an LIB cell containing cobalt, as well as cathode material (Fan et al. 2020). the relative contribution of cobalt, a process-based or 13 1108 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 attributional LCA was conducted (Yang 2019), with a cradle Table 1  Approximate composition of the functional unit of the study to gate scope (Fig. 1). The system boundary largely follows — one cylindrical NMC 811 battery cell weighting about 68 g (Chordia et al. 2021) that of Chordia et al. (2021), who studied the environmental impacts of the same battery, with the notable exception of Cell component Share of weight the cobalt sulfate production, as described in Sect. 2.4. The Positive current collector and tab (aluminum) 3% functional unit of that study was 1 kWh of theoretical energy Active cathode material (nickel, cobalt, and 37% storage capacity for a 21,700-type cylindrical LIB cell of manganese) the NMC 811 chemistry after the formation step, with the Negative current collector and tab (copper) 7% composition described in Table 1. The cell is intended for Active anode material (synthetic graphite) 23% automobile applications, weighing 68 g and having a specific Electrolyte (lithium hexafluorophosphate and 10% energy density value within the range of 210–240 Wh/kg organics) (Chordia et al. 2021). In this study, the functional unit of one Separator (polyethylene) 2% such battery cell is chosen as it is a more tangible functional Cylindrical container (nickel-plated steel) 12% unit for interpretation. However, it can be translated into Lid (nickel-plated steel) 3% kWh of energy storage approximately, for comparisons with Fastening tape (polyethylene) 1% other battery cells, by applying a factor of 65 cells/kWh. Insulation ring (polyethylene) 2% The applied impact pathway (or type II) method for assessing potential health impacts in the context of social LCA was first conceptualized by Baumann et al. (2013) and ∑ ∑ DALY net = DALY + DALY (1) then formalized by Arvidsson et al. (2018). It entails a quan- positive negative tification and relative comparison of health impacts along DALY stands for disability-adjusted life years (unit: product life cycles, as well as a quantification of the potential years). Since DALY is a measure of years lost due to death net health impact of products: Fig. 1  Flow chart describing the main processes of the cradle-to-gate product system studied and main inventory data sources. The system boundary is shown as a dashed line. The cobalt sulfate supply chain is shown in higher resolution 13 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 1109 or disability, DALY values with a positive sign imply a well. These potential health impacts from emissions and water negative impact on human life and health, whereas nega- use affect the general population. Potential health impacts of tive DALY values imply a positive impact. Many different emissions ­(DALYemissions) are quantified according to: potential health impacts can occur along product life cycles ∑ and the analyst must a priori select those believed to be of DALY emissions = Q × CF i,m × CF m,e i,m i,m (3) significance for quantification. In the case of LIBs, based on existing reports of health impacts (Sect. 1), contribu- where Qi,m is a quantity of elementary flow i contributing to tions from (i) emissions and (ii) occupational accidents are the midpoint impact category m, CFi,m is a characterization considered: factor describing the contribution of i to m, and CFm,e is an endpoint characterization factor describing the contribu- DALY net = DALY emissions + DALY accidents (2) tion of m to the endpoint impact category e. Only the end- point human health is considered in this study. The endpoint The quantification of potential health impacts from characterization factors are derived based on how much the emissions ­( DALYemissions) and occupational accidents midpoint impact categories contribute to potential health ­(DALYaccidents) are described in Sects. 2.1 and 2.2, respec- impacts as described in the ReCiPe 2016 report (Huijbregts tively. No positive potential health impacts are considered in et al. 2016). For example, in the case of stratospheric ozone this assessment, but some potentially positive contributions depletion, it is based on the increase of UV light and sub- are discussed in Sect. 3.4. Health impacts from conflicts sequent diseases caused by ozone depletion. A hierarchist have been included in some previous studies of cobalt and value perspective is chosen as main perspective in this study, gold from the DRC (Arvidsson et al. 2018; Furberg et al. reflecting the current scientific consensus on time frames 2018). However, the Katanga region of the DRC, where most and impact mechanisms (Huijbregts et al. 2016), although cobalt is mined, has recently been reported to be the most the implications of choosing other value perspectives (indi- stable part of the entire country, since the mineral wealth vidualist or egalitarian) are also discussed. The emission and has created a middle class and provided political stability water use data for Qi,m come from Chordia et al. (2021), Dai (Sovacool 2019). While the presence of valuable minerals et al. (2018), and the Ecoinvent database as shown in Fig. 1. in poor countries can spur conflict, this does not seem to be the case in the Katanga region. Reports suggest that the two Katangese provinces Haut-Katanga and Luabala “are not 2.2 Occupational accidents considered conflict zones” (OECD 2019), and that “cobalt has, opposite to gold, tin and coltan [a tantalum-containing Potential health impacts from occupational accidents mineral], not yet started any war in the DRC” (Lindberg and ­(DALYaccidents) were quantified using the approach by Scanlon Andersson 2019). Therefore, health impacts from conflict et al. (2015), where work environment characterization are not included in this study. factors ­(CFWE) for industry sectors j are calculated accord- The product system was modeled using OpenLCA (ver- ing to: sion 1.10.3) with most inventory data coming from the Ecoinvent database, version 3.7.1 with cutoff allocation of DALY j CF WE,j = (4) recycled materials (Wernet et al. 2016). However, two pro- Qj cesses were modeled using other sources: (i) lithium-ion cell production and (ii) battery-grade cobalt sulfate production where ­DALYj is the total number of years lost due to injuries (Fig. 1). The modeling of these processes is described in or premature death in industry sector j, and Qj is the total more detail in Sects. 2.3 and 2.4, respectively. output of the same sector. Such outputs can be in terms of units (e.g., number of cars), mass (e.g., kg of steel), energy (e.g., MJ of electricity), or some other measure reflecting the 2.1 Emission health impacts industry sector’s output. The accidents included are based on reported occupational accident data from industries in the Like previous studies on health impacts of products (Arvidsson USA, and include both fatal and non-fatal accidents, such as et al. 2018; Furberg et al. 2018; Debaveye et al. 2020), this study bruises, wounds, and traumatic injuries. The industry sectors relies on the impact assessment method ReCiPe (Huijbregts et al. are often more aggregated than the typical unit process in 2017). ReCiPe considers health impacts related to the following an LCA, for example aggregating many types of metal min- emission-related midpoint impact categories: particulate matter, ing into the category “All other metal ore mining.” Scanlon tropospheric ozone formation, ionizing radiation, stratospheric et al. (2015) provide 127 ­CFWE, often in the orders of ­10−7 ozone depletion, human toxicity, and global warming to ­10−10 year/kg for sectors where the output is quantified in (Huijbregts et al. 2017). In addition, ReCiPe also considers terms of mass, which is the most common case. Such occu- health impacts from water scarcity, which is included here as pational health impacts affect workers along the life cycle. 13 1110 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 The ­CFWE provided by Scanlon et al. (2015) were deemed single mining tunnel in the DRC, alone leading to more than acceptable proxies for occupational accidents in the whole 60 deaths (MacDonald and Pokharel 2020). Given the work- product system, except for one process: artisanal cobalt min- force estimated above, a rate of 2000 fatalities means that ing. Here, a specific C ­ FWE for artisanal cobalt mining in almost 1% of the workforce die every year. Approximately the DRC was instead calculated using Eq. (4), updating the 1% fatality rate per year was similarly reported for small- value previously calculated by Furberg et al. (2018). The scale tin mining cooperatives in Bolivia (ILO 1999). The amount of cobalt extracted in artisanal mining in the DRC median age of artisanal cobalt miners in the DRC is 25 years (Qj in Eq. 4) was calculated using the reported cobalt pro- (Elenge et al. 2013), and the life expectancy in the DRC is duction and artisanal share in the DRC, averaged over the 61 years in 2021. The resulting YLL becomes 72,000 years, years 2009–2015 (Al Barazi et al. 2017), resulting in about corresponding to 2.8·10−3 year/kg cobalt. The lower estimate 26,000 ton/year. The DALY in Eq. (4) was calculated as the of fatal accidents in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC of sum of the years of life disabled (YLD) and years of life 65 per years gives a YLL at 1.0·10−4 year/kg cobalt. Even lost (YLL): though this lower estimate is considered unreasonably low, results based on this estimate are still presented in this study DALY = YLD + YLL (5) for comparison. The YLD is, in turn, calculated as: When adding the YLD and YLL (high estimate) per kg cobalt, the ­CFWE for artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC can YLD = I × DW × L (6) be obtained at 2.8·10−3 year/kg cobalt. Given a 0.47% cobalt where I is the number of incidents, DW is a disability weight, content of the extracted ore (Dai et al. 2018), this becomes and L is the duration of the disability. The number of inci- 1.3·10−5 year/kg copper-cobalt ore. This can be compared to dents was estimated assuming 175,000 artisanal cobalt the several orders of magnitude lower ­CFWE for (industrial) miners in the DRC, which is an average of ranges reported copper ore and nickel ore mining in Scanlon et al. (2015) at (BGR 2019; OECD 2019). The frequency of occupational 8.4·10−9 year/kg. accidents in artisanal cobalt mining in the Katanga region Since the ­CFWE are not implemented in the Ecoinvent was obtained from the study by Elenge et al. (2013), who database, they need to be added manually. Unfortunately, reported the frequency of wounds as well as fractures on manually adding C ­ FWE to all linked upstream processes in upper and lower limbs. These are common injuries in arti- the Ecoinvent database is not feasible. Thus, the ­CFWE are sanal mining, frequently reported also in, e.g., artisanal gold added for all processes in the cobalt production system and mining in Ghana (Kyeremateng-Amoah and Clarke 2015). the battery cell production, as well as for all direct inputs to The frequency of wounds is paired with DW and L values for these (which might also be present in other places upstream open wounds provided by Haagsma et al. (2016). The fre- in the system). Table S1 in the Supporting Information (SI) quency of fractures on upper and lower limps are paired with lists all processes for which the ­CFWE are implemented. average values of DW and L for different fractures: humerus, Although this means that a number of upstream processes are hand, radius, and ulna bones for upper limbs, as well as not accounted for regarding their work environment impacts, foot, femur, patella, tibia, fibula, and ancle bones for lower this approach is judged to account for a significant share of limbs (Haagsma et al. 2016). The resulting YLD obtained the total work environment impacts since all major inputs to was about 370 years, or 1.4·10−5 year/kg cobalt. the studied system are included. The YLL is calculated as: 2.3 Lithium‑ion cell production YLL = N × (LEX − L) (7) where N is the number of fatalities, LEX is the life expec- The LIB cell production is modeled according to Chordia tancy at birth, and L is the age of death. The number of et al. (2021), since that study considers a presumably benign fatalities in artisanal cobalt mining the DRC has been scenario regarding potential health impacts of cobalt- estimated at up to 2000 per year based on a questionnaire containing LIBs. First, they assess a cylindrical NMC 811 administered in cobalt-producing provinces by Siddharath cell, which contains cobalt but in lower amounts than, e.g., Kara (MacDonald and Pokharel 2020), who is a researcher the currently more common NMC 111 cell. Second, they and expert on modern slavery. A much lower estimate of 65 model a large-scale “gigafactory,” which has lower impacts fatalities per year have been published by the World Bank compared to smaller-scale cell production. Third, the (2020), based on cases reported in media. However, due to location of the gigafactory in Sweden means an electricity limited access and coverage by media on these matters, this mix based mainly on hydropower and nuclear, which leads value is presumed to be a clear underestimation. In fact, to lower potential health impacts compared to more fossil- Kara claims to have personally witnessed the collapse of a based electricity mixes. Using this context for the study, 13 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 1111 which represents an estimate of potential health impacts (OECD 2019; Sovacool 2019). A process for copper-cobalt from upcoming LIB cell production in northern Europe, the ore production in the DRC is created, consisting of 20% focus is intentionally set on the mineral extraction and cell artisanal ore input as reported by Al Barazi et al. (2017) and precursor materials production life-cycle stages, in line with the remaining 80% ore input from industrial-scale extraction. the overall aim of investigating the role of cobalt, rather than For all upstream processes linked to material and energy health impacts of the energy supply to later production steps. inputs, datasets from the Ecoinvent database were used. The gigafactory model is based on data from environmen- Congolese or Chinese datasets were used if available, oth- tal permit applications and technical reports published by the erwise global or rest-of-the-world datasets were used. An company Northvolt AB for a facility currently being put into exception to this is the sodium metabisulfite, as described operation in Northern Sweden, representing an annual pro- below. duction of 16 GWh of battery cell storage capacity (Chordia For the large-scale copper-cobalt ore mining in the DRC, et al. 2021). The factory will produce both cylindrical and the data in Dai et al. (2018) is based on the Tenke Fungu- prismatic cells, but only cylindrical cells were considered rume Mine, where both oxide and sulfide ores are mined. by Chordia et al. (2021), as well as in this study. The model The unit-process dataset was scaled from 1 ton copper-cobalt includes the complete cell production and assembly from ore to 1 kg copper-cobalt ore. The diesel input reported is input chemicals and materials, ending with the formation of mainly for large mining vehicles like caterpillars accord- the cells, which is the finishing process where the cells are ing to the report and was therefore approximated using the charged and discharged a number of times. For this study, Ecoinvent process “diesel, burned in agricultural machin- one significant change was made to the model: the battery- ery.” The water input was assumed to come from “natural grade cobalt-sulfate supply was changed, as described in unspecified origin,” since it is unknown if the water comes Sect. 2.4. from, e.g., rivers or lakes. The ore reportedly contains 2.44% copper and 0.47% cobalt, while the rest of the ore 2.4 Battery‑grade cobalt sulfate production was assumed to consist of inert rock. No losses during the mining are reported in the source. The resulting unit pro- The Ecoinvent database contains a dataset for cobalt sulfate cess for large-scale copper-cobalt ore mining in the DRC is production provided by the cobalt development institute, shown in Table S4. which was applied in the study by Chordia et al. (2021). The production of crude cobalt hydroxide from the copper- This dataset reportedly covers 30% of the global produc- cobalt ore occurs through hydrometallurgical ore process- tion of refined cobalt products in 2012 and includes cobalt ing, again modeled based on the operation at the Tenke ore mining in Canada, Cuba, the DRC, New Caledonia, Fungurume Mine in the DRC. However, the data in Dai et al. and the Philippines (Environmental Resource Management (2018) had to be reworked into a unit process dataset for the 2016). However, this dataset does not distinguish cobalt purpose of this study. The cobalt output is first calculated extraction from its refining and is therefore considered too based on a 0.47% cobalt content in the ore and an 80% cobalt aggregated for this study with a focus on health impacts yield. The copper output was calculated in the same way. along the cobalt supply chain. In addition, the dataset does Economic allocation between copper and cobalt is then con- not include refined cobalt production in China, even though ducted based on 10-year average prices as described in Dai China is currently the largest producer of refined cobalt et al. (2018). Finally, the cobalt output is recalculated into a products. Consequently, less aggregated inventory data crude cobalt hydroxide output based on a 35% cobalt con- on battery-grade cobalt sulfate production from Dai et al. tent and all flows are scaled to 1 kg crude cobalt hydroxide. (2018) are used instead. They provide datasets for three main Electricity is assumed to be medium voltage. The limestone processes: (i) large-scale copper-cobalt ore mining in the input is assumed to be crushed when purchased. Transport DRC, (ii) crude cobalt hydroxide production in the DRC, of the crude cobalt hydroxide to China (about 16,000 km, and (iii) battery-grade cobalt sulfate in China. In addition, 17% truck and 83% ocean tanker) is included in the dataset. we added a fourth dataset for artisanal copper-cobalt ore While not reported in Dai et al. (2018), tailings are formed mining. However, since this artisanal mining occurs without during refining of copper ores in the DRC (Adrianto et al. any modern mining equipment, using basic tools for dig- 2022). The difference in mass between the ore input and ging and sometimes only hands (Sovacool 2019), the data- the crude cobalt hydroxide output is therefore assumed to set does not have any inputs except for the cobalt, copper, become tailings. Both oxidic and sulfidic copper-cobalt and rock mined (Table S3). Together, these four processes ores are mined in the DRC (Dai et al. 2018; Shengo et al. cover the main route of cobalt sulfate production, since most 2020), but since the shares are unknown, 50% of oxidic and (70%) of the cobalt is mined in the DRC (Table S2) and most sulfidic tailings each are assumed. Treatment processes from (80%) refined cobalt products are produced in China after the Ecoinvent database are applied for these tailings, with import from the DRC in the form of crude cobalt hydroxide a global geographical scope for the oxidic tailings and a 13 1112 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 dataset representing tailings treatment in the neighboring from occupational accidents in artisanal cobalt mining in country of Zambia for the sulfidic tailings. The resulting the DRC, when the high fatality estimate is used. The con- unit process for the hydrometallurgical ore processing in the tribution from occupational accidents in other parts of the DRC is shown in Table S5. product system is notably lower — about 30 times lower The production of battery-grade cobalt sulfate is modeled than the high estimate for accidents in artisanal cobalt min- specifically based on the Tongxiang plant run by Huayou ing and about 200 times lower than the contribution from Cobalt and the data are considered “conservative” estimates. emission and water use. The low estimate of the accidents in The unit-process data provided by in Dai et al. (2018) are artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC is about 30 times lower scaled from per ton cobalt equivalent to per kg battery-grade than the high estimate, making the contribution comparable cobalt sulfate. The resulting unit process for the battery- to accidents in other parts of the product system. grade cobalt sulfate in China is shown in Table S6. One Figure 2b shows a more detailed contribution analysis of the inputs to the battery-grade cobalt sulfate production for the higher and presumably more relevant estimate of — sodium metabisulfite — does currently not have a data- fatalities in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC. It shows that set in the Ecoinvent database. Therefore, its production was these accidents contribute with about 13% of the potential approximated as an input of sodium hydroxide based on Dai health impacts of the LIB cell. Other accidents, i.e., mean- et al. (2018), see Table S7. ing accidents in the product system other than the artisanal cobalt mining, contribute with < 1%. The majority of the contributions (87%) make up the various green bars, which 3 Results and discussion represent emissions and water use in different parts of the product system. Here, there are four distinct inputs to the Figure 1a shows the potential health impacts of the assessed gigafactory for which the production contribute with > 5% LIB cell divided into four contributions. The first two are of the potential health impacts: (i) production of the nickel accidents in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC based on sulfate used for making the nickel-containing cathode (30%), the two different fatality estimates used in the study — the (ii) production of the copper foil used in the current collector higher estimate at 2000 fatalities/year and the more con- of the anode (20%), (iii) production of the cell container and servative media reporting of 65 fatalities/year. The third is lid made from nickel-plated steel (8%), and (iv) production the contribution from emissions and water use throughout of the cobalt sulfate, which is also part of the cathode (6%). the product system, as calculated using the ReCiPe impact In addition, several smaller contributions, each contributing assessment method. The fourth is accidents in other parts of less than 5%, together amount to 23% of the potential health the product system based on the accident data from Scanlon impacts. The vast majority of these contributions are from et al. (2015). A main observation is that emissions and water impacts occurring upstream of the gigafactory. Considering use constitute the highest contribution by approximately that the nickel sulfate and copper foil productions constitute one order of magnitude. The second largest contribution is the two main contributors — even in this case with the high (a) (b) 1.E-05 30% DALY (year) 25% 1.E-06 20% 15% 1.E-07 10% 5% 1.E-08 0% Nickel sulfate prod. Copper current Artisanal cobalt Cell container and Cobalt sulfate prod. Other accidents Other prod. Accidents, artisanal Accidents, artisanal Emissions and water Accidents, other collector prod. min ing accidents lid prod. emissions/water cobalt mining DRC cobalt mining DRC, use (ReCiPe - H) processes DRC (2000 use* (2000 fatalities) (65 fatalities) fatalities) Fig. 2  Potential health impacts from the lithium-ion battery cell. a the yellow bar represents accidents in artisanal cobalt mining in the Contributions from the main types of health impacts are shown as DRC (high estimate), and the orange bar represents other occupa- absolute results on a logarithmic scale. b Relative contributions given tional accidents. *The contributions to this category are all < 5% each the high estimate for fatalities in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC. and mostly upstream to the gigafactory Green bars represent emission and water use impacts from ReCiPe, 13 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 1113 estimate of fatalities in artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC perspective in ReCiPe, only primary particulate matter is — these two input materials are analyzed in more detail in considered. In the hierarchist, medium-term perspective, the Sects. 3.1 and 3.2, respectively. main perspective selected for this study, indirect particu- late matter from sulfur dioxide is included. In addition, in 3.1 Nickel sulfate production the egalitarian, long-term perspective, indirect particulate matter from other emissions besides sulfur dioxide is also The inventory data for nickel sulfate production was taken considered (i.e., nitrogen oxides and ammonia). Figure 3a from the Ecoinvent database, specifically the global dataset shows that the potential health impacts from nickel sulfate “market for nickel sulfate.” About 92% of the nickel sulfate go down by 80% from the hierarchist to the individualist in that process is produced jointly with cobalt during extrac- perspective. Reduction in fine particulate matter formation tion of ores containing both the metals and the data origi- due to the omission of indirect particulate matter from sulfur nates from LCA work commissioned by the Cobalt Devel- dioxide is the biggest reason for this decrease in potential opment Institute (Environmental Resource Management health impacts. An egalitarian value perspective (not shown 2016). A final 8% is produced by reacting nickel (class 1) in Fig. 3a), on the other hand, increases potential health with sulfuric acid. The nickel supply to this Ecoinvent pro- impacts of nickel sulfate by a factor of 40 compared to the cess comes mainly from cobalt–nickel ores, nickel-copper hierarchist perspective. ores, and as a byproduct from platinum group metal min- For the human non-carcinogenic toxicity, the main ing and refining. The two midpoint impact categories that contributing elementary flows are arsenic and zinc ions contribute the most to the potential health impacts of the originating from the treatment of sulfidic tailings. Again, nickel sulfate market process are fine particulate matter for- as shown in Fig. 3a, these potential health impacts depend mation (51%) and human non-carcinogenic toxicity (21%). considerably on the selected value perspective and become For the fine particulate matter formation, the dominating notably reduced if a more short-term perspective is chosen. elementary flow is sulfur dioxide, mainly occurring during For example, a limited number of exposure routes (drink- the production of nickel from platinum group metal min- ing water and air) is considered in ReCiPe’s individualist ing and cobalt–nickel ore mining. Here, it can be noted that perspective (Huijbregts et al. 2016). Also, the time hori- sulfur dioxide is considered differently between the three zon in the individualist perspective is only 20 years, versus value perspectives of the ReCiPe method (Huijbregts et al. 100 years in the hierarchist perspective, which means that 2016). Direct emissions of fine particulate matter obviously the toxic substances have less time to cause harm. contribute to fine particulate matter formation. Sulfur diox- In terms of data representativeness, it can be noted ide, however, only contributes indirectly by constituting that the unit process dataset for treatment of sulfidic tail- condensation nuclei that leads to the formation of second- ings in the Ecoinvent database, which includes the leach- ary particulate matter. In the individualist, short-term value ing of several toxic metals, is generic and applied to many (a) (b) 4.00E-05 1.80E-07 DALY DALY (year/kg nickel (year/g copper foil) 1.60E-07 3.50E-05 sulfate) 1.40E-07 3.00E-05 1.20E-07 2.50E-05 1.00E-07 2.00E-05 8.00E-08 1.50E-05 6.00E-08 1.00E-05 4.00E-08 5.00E-06 2.00E-08 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 Individualist, short term Hierarchist, medium term Individualist, short term Hierarchist, medium term Fine particulate matter formation Human non-carcinogenic toxicity Other health impacts Fig. 3  Potential health impacts from two main contributors to the health impacts of the studied LIB cell, a nickel sulfate production and b copper foil production, given two different value perspectives. The hierarchist perspective is the chosen main perspective of this study 13 1114 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 non-ferrous metal extraction processes in the database. As could be replaced by some other conductive material. Any a result, sulfidic tailings are identified as a large contributor such changes must, however, not compromise the technical to toxicity impacts in many product systems (Reinhard et al. performance of the LIB cell significantly, in relation to its 2019). Hence, collection of more data with higher specificity prerequisites for use. Materials that might be investigated regarding the treatment of tailings from different extractions as potential alternatives include aluminum, nickel, titanium, could influence the results of this study. stainless steel, and possibly also carbon-based nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene (Zhu et al. 2021). 3.2 Copper foil production Moving upstream in the product system, the analyses in Sects. 3.1 and 3.2 showed that much of the potential health The production of copper foil, which serves as the current impacts along the life cycle of the studied LIB cell are collector for the graphite anode, is modeled as sheet roll- related to mining of metals and the treatment of tailings. ing of so-called cathode copper. The two midpoint impact Emission reductions in metal mining and tailings treat- categories that contribute the most to the potential health ment would thus reduce the potential health impacts of the impacts of the copper foil production are the same as for studied LIB cell. For example, in the dataset where nickel nickel sulfate production, but in reversed order: human is produced as a by-product during platinum group metal non-carcinogenic toxicity (68%) and fine particulate matter mining, each kg of nickel produced causes about 7 kg of formation (19%). For the human non-carcinogenic toxicity, sulfur dioxide emissions. The sulfur originates from sulfidic the main contributing processes are treatment of sulfidic tail- ores and is emitted as sulfur dioxide during several refining ings due to zinc ion emissions and treatment of copper slag steps, such as roasting (Classen et al. 2009). Recovering that due to arsenic ion emissions. For the fine particulate matter sulfur dioxide would reduce potential health impacts from formation, the main contribution comes from the mining the nickel sulfate production process. In addition, increased of platinum group metals, from which copper is a byprod- recycled content of metals such as nickel and copper would uct, specifically from sulfur dioxide emissions. Nickel sul- also reduce upstream impacts. The current recycled con- fate and copper foil production thus mostly have the same tents in the Ecoinvent datasets for cathode copper and nickel main contributing midpoint impact categories, processes, (class 1) datasets are approximately 20% and < 1%, respec- and elementary flows. Unsurprisingly, there are large dif- tively. Battery manufacturers could investigate the possibil- ferences in potential health impacts depending on the value ity of sourcing metal supplies with higher recycled contents. perspective for the copper foil production as well. As shown Accidents during artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC in Fig. 3b, the individualist perspective gives approximately also contribute notably to the potential health impacts a factor of 10 lower heath impact compared to the hierar- of the studied LIB cell. Sovacool (2019) proposed seven chist perspective, mainly due to reductions in human non- policy recommendations for better governing of cobalt carcinogenic toxicity and fine particulate matter formation. mining in the DRC. These include to: (i) enforce better Again, the individualist perspective gives lower potential occupational standards for artisanal and small-scale health impacts due to shorter time horizons, fewer exposure mining operations, (ii) form joint ventures with artisanal routes, and exclusion of indirect particulate matter forma- and small-scale mining and large-scale and industrial tion. The egalitarian perspective (not shown in Fig. 3b), on mining interests, (iii) implement better dust and tailings the other hand, gives more than 100 times higher potential management at large-scale and industrial mining, (iv) health impacts compared to the hierarchist perspective. This pursue broader and more robust community benefit is due to longer time horizons and inclusion of additional sharing agreements, (v) support training for alternative types of indirect particulate formation. livelihoods, (vi) recognize the limitations of traceability schemes and formalization, and (vii) do not ban 3.3 Potential improvements artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining. Some of these recommendations, such as enforcing better occupational Considering first the design of the studied LIB cell, one standards, might directly lead to reductions in potential option for health improvements could be to lower the cobalt health impacts. For example, Elenge (2013) suggested content further, i.e., in line with the generally ongoing efforts that it would be possible to introduce some degree of for LIBs by moving away from the cobalt-rich NMC 333 mechanization in artisanal cobalt mining, since the costs chemistry (Fan et al. 2020). However, as shown in Fig. 1b, would be offset by a more or less guaranteed production if nickel is used instead, as in the studied NMC 811 chem- level over time, which would reduce the physical strain istry, that also brings considerable potential health impacts. of the artisanal miners. For other recommendations, an If the reduction of cobalt is done at the expense of increased indirect effect might occur, e.g., if training for alternative nickel content, a net reduction in potential health impacts livelihoods reduces the need for wounded or tired miners might not occur. Possibly, the copper current collector foil to return to mining where they at higher risk of suffering 13 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 1115 from fatal accidents. Other publications generally provide 3.5 Limitations and uncertainties similar recommendations, albeit formulated differently and at a different level of detail (Tsurukawa et al. 2011; The aim of assessing a wide range of potential health BGR 2019; OECD 2019; Sovacool et al. 2020). The impacts inevitably bring sources of uncertainty. The main seventh recommendation by Sovacool (2019) — to not inventory data sources of this study are Chordia et al. ban artisanal mining of cobalt — reflects that there are (2021), Dai et al. (2018), and the Ecoinvent database, ver- also benefits from artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC, sion 3.7.1. The data from Chordia et al. (2021) represent which, given a ban, would disappear (see Sect. 1). a modern gigafactory and is considered fit for the aim of Instead, Sovacool (2019) advocates efforts to improve the this study. As explained in Sect. 2.4, Dai et al. (2018) is mining practices. This recommendation is also echoed the only known source with cobalt supply data presented in other sources, e.g., Tsurukawa et al. (2011). Notably, at the unit process level, which is considered valuable in this is opposite to the recommendation by Sharma and a study with a particular interest in the contribution from Manthiram (2020), who recommended a complete cobalt. Still, the data from Dai et al. (2018) is limited, elimination of cobalt in LIB cathodes. e.g., in terms of emissions reported and treatment of tail- ings, which are therefore important areas for further data gathering to reduce the uncertainty in potential health 3.4 Potential positive health impacts impacts from emissions. The Ecoinvent database has the explicit aim of providing background data to LCA stud- The aim of this study has been to quantify the potential ies (Wernet et al. 2016), and as such it is considered fit negative health impacts caused by the supply chain activi- for the aim of this study. However, considering the large ties of a selected LIB cell. However, there might also be contribution from nickel sulfate and copper foil produc- potential positive health impacts related to the life cycle of tion to the potential health impacts of the studied battery this LIB cell. These could occur during the use of the cell, cell (Fig. 2b), further detailed investigations of emissions in particular if it enables the replacement of fossil fuel- and treatment of tailings from nickel and copper mining based vehicles (through electromobility) or fossil fuel- would be useful to reduce the uncertainty of this study and based electricity (through stationary storage of electricity identify improvement opportunities. from renewable energy sources). Investigating such health The three main data sources when it comes to characteri- benefits would require studies with wider cradle-to-grave zation factors for social impact assessment are ReCiPe for scopes. However, there might also be potential positive emissions and water use (Huijbregts et al. 2017), Scanlon health impacts within the LIB cell production system et al. (2015) for occupational accidents for most processes studied here. For example, the income generated by arti- and our own calculations for occupational accidents from sanal cobalt miners in the DRC — and possibly income artisanal cobalt mining. ReCiPe is widely used to assess elsewhere in the product system as well — might lead to potential health impacts from emissions and water use in health benefits. Previous work by Feschet et al. (2013) has LCA studies. The three value perspectives — individualist, started to outline an impact pathway for positive health hierarchist and egalitarian — represent different views on impacts from earning an income based on the so-called time perspective and inclusiveness when it comes to envi- Preston curve, which shows how the life expectancy in ronmental and health impacts, with the individualist/short low-income countries increases with higher income rates term and egalitarian/long term perspectives being the two in general. However, this approach calculates changes in extremes. While these perspectives can provide a wide range life expectancy rather than DALYs and it requires certain of potential health impacts (Fig. 3), they also illustrate how criteria to be fulfilled. For example, the added value of the differences in fundamental values influence the results. The activity must be distributed relatively equally among the characterization factors from Scanlon et al. (2015) cover population for this approach to apply. This is currently not the most relevant industry sectors, but are aggregated, as in fulfilled in the DRC, which has among the world’s highest “copper ore and nickel ore mining.” Here, a further disaggre- corruption levels. Therefore, this approach to quantifying gation and differentiation between different locations, e.g., positive health impacts from income can currently not be industrial copper-cobalt ore mining in the DRC and nickel included in Eq. (2). However, there might be local and mining in Russia in that case, would reduce the uncertainty more direct health benefits from earning an income, which in the estimation of potential health impacts from occupa- do not affect the general population of a region as per the tional accidents. Regarding our calculations of work envi- Preston curve, but nevertheless affect, e.g., specific min- ronment characterization factors for artisanal cobalt mining, ers and their families. We recommend further studies to the largest source of uncertainty is likely the 65–2000 fatali- investigate this relationship between incomes and health ties/year range. Further investigations to reduce uncertainty status in more detail. in that value are strongly recommended. 13 1116 The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2022) 27:1106–1118 4 Conclusions Declarations This study has shown that the cobalt input to the NMC- Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests. type LIB production (in the form of cobalt sulfate) con- Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- tributes notably to the battery’s potential health impact, bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- both through occupational accidents during artisanal tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long cobalt mining in the DRC (13%) and through emissions as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, and water use during the production of cobalt sulfate (6%). provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are The occupational accidents impact artisanal miners in the included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated Katanga region of the DRC specifically. However, cobalt otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in is not the only contributor to the potential health impacts, the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not nor necessarily the largest. Potential health impacts from permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a the production of two other input materials to the produc- copy of this licence, visit http://​creat​iveco​mmons.​org/​licen​ses/​by/4.​0/. tion of the LIB contribute even more: nickel sulfate (30%) and copper foil (20%). The reason for these high potential health impacts are emissions of sulfur dioxide, zinc, and References arsenic. 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Mining and human impacts of NMC batteries, a number of recommendations richts in Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo, London are proposed to LIB cell manufacturers: (i) investigate the Amnesty International and Afrewatch (2016) “This is what we die for”. feasibility of replacing the copper foil with another con- Human rights abuses in the Democratic Rebublic of the Congo ductive material able to provide anode current collector power the global trade in cobalt. London Arvidsson R, Hildenbrand J, Baumann H, Islam KMN, Parsmo R functionality; (ii) reduce emissions from metals extraction; (2018) A method for human health impact assessment in social and (iii) increase the recycled content of sourced metals. LCA: lessons from three case studies. 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