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Batteries are enablers for reducing fossil‐fuel dependency and climate‐change impacts. In this study, a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of large‐scale production of two different sodium‐ion battery (SIB) cells is performed with a cradle‐to‐gate system boundary. The SIB cells modeled have Prussian white cathodes and hard carbon anodes based only on abundant elements and thus constitute potentially preferable options to current lithium‐ion battery (LIB) cells from a mineral resource scarcity point of view. The functional unit was 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity, and the specific energy density of the cells was 160 Wh/kg. Data for the cathode active material come from a large‐scale facility under construction and data for the SIB cell production is based on a large‐scale LIB cell gigafactory. For other SIB cell materials, prospective inventory data was obtained from a generic eight‐step procedure developed, which can be used by other LCA practitioners. The results show that both SIB cells indeed have considerably lower mineral resource scarcity impacts than nickel‐manganese‐cobalt (NMC)‐type LIB cells in a cradle‐to‐gate perspective, while their global warming impacts are on par. Main recommendations to SIB manufacturers are to source fossil‐free electricity for cell production and use hard carbon anodes based on lignin instead of phenolic resin. Additionally, since none of the assessed electrolytes had clearly lower cradle‐to‐gate impacts than any other, more research into SIB electrolyte materials with low environmental and resource impacts should be prioritized. An improvement of the SIB cell production model would be to obtain large‐scale production data specific to SIB cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global population growth and rising living standards are increasing apparel consumption. Consequently, consumption of resources and generation of textile waste are increasing. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, textile consumption increased by 40% between the years 2000 and 2009 in Sweden. Given that there is currently no textile recycling plant in Sweden, the aim of this article is to explore the potential environmental benefits of various textile recycling techniques and thereby direct textile waste management strategies toward more sustainable options. Three different recycling techniques for a model waste consisting of 50% cotton and 50% polyester were identified and a life cycle assessment (LCA) was made to assess the environmental performance of them. The recycling processes are: material reuse of textile waste of adequate quality; separation of cellulose from polyester using N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide as a solvent; and chemical recycling of polyester. These are compared to incineration, representing conventional textile waste treatment in Sweden. The results show that incineration has the highest global warming potential and primary energy usage. The material reuse process exhibits the best performance of the studied systems, with savings of 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) and 164 gigajoules (GJ) of primary energy per tonne of textile waste. Sensitivity analyses showed that results are particularly sensitive to the considered yields of the processes and to the choice of replaced products. An integration of these recycling technologies for optimal usage of their different features for treatment of 1 tonne of textile waste shows that 10 tonnes CO2-eq and 169 GJ of primary energy could be saved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]