{"id":12406,"date":"2020-05-07T22:15:31","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T05:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=12406"},"modified":"2020-06-10T20:46:45","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T03:46:45","slug":"making-and-recycling-libs-cleaner-safer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/making-and-recycling-libs-cleaner-safer\/","title":{"rendered":"Making and Recycling LIBs Cleaner, Safer"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if we could make the process of making\u00a0 LIBs (Lithium Ion Batteries) a lot safer, their use less hazardous, and their recycling a low-risk enterprise?\u00a0 Virginia Tech researchers think they have positive answers to all three questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

By substituting water for organic solvents normally used in making LIB electrodes, researchers at Virginia Tech (<\/a><\/span>Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), \u201c…found <\/span>that the electrodes fabricated via water-based processing demonstrate comparable rate performance and cycle life to the ones from conventional solvent based processing.\u201d\u00a0 Beyond that, in a seeming bit of alchemy, using water-based processing with a water-soluble binder, \u201c…enabled recovering the cathode compound from spent electrodes using water, which could be successfully regenerated to deliver comparable electrochemical performance to the original, pristine electrode.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHumongous\u201d Amount of NMP<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Virginia Tech’s manufacturing flow chart shows efficient use of recycled material<\/p><\/div>\n

N-methyl-2- pyrrolidone (NMP), used as a solvent in making LIB electrodes, is expensive and harmful to reproductive functions.\u00a0 It was added to the European Commission\u2019s restricted list in 2018.\u00a0 Despite those concerns, one plant alone uses 4.1 million kilograms per year just for depositing cathode layers for 100,000 packs per year of 60 kilowatt, 10 kilowatt-hour plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) batteries.\u00a0 According to <\/span>Green Car Congress, <\/span><\/i>the worldwide need to support 400 gigawatt-hours of battery production is \u201chumongous,\u201d a phrase not often used in scientific literature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Savings From Water-based Processes<\/b><\/h4>\n

Processes with NMP are costly, with the electrode drying and recovery of NMP solvent accounting for 47 percent of the total process energy in LIB manufacturing.\u00a0 Replacing NMP with water would reduce that cost by one quarter.\u00a0 Dry room facilities that support slurry mixing and casting operations for moisture and temperature control consume another 29 percent of total energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zheng Li and his Virginia Tech team concluded, \u201cExcellent electrochemical performance was achieved from the water-based processed electrodes used in this work and comparable performance was obtained from the recycled materials. This methodology provides a green, sustainable process for LIB manufacturing and recycling if some underlying challenges can be resolved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Their results are published in the journal<\/a><\/span> iScience<\/span><\/i> in an article titled, \u201cWater-Based Electrode Manufacturing and Direct Recycling of Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes\u2014A Green and Sustainable Manufacturing System.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reducing Hazards in Recycling<\/h4>\n
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Despite large number of\u00a0 LIBs available at end of life, few are recycled, losing fortunes in desirable materials<\/p><\/div>\n

Their work might make recycling lithium batteries easier, too.\u00a0 Partly because LIBs can flare up when damaged, and their electrolytes can spread across storage areas, space shared with other flammable materials such as paper or cardboard can be a potential inferno.<\/span><\/p>\n

One operator termed LIBs \u201can existential threat\u201d to the recycling industry<\/a>.\u00a0 Hilary Gans of the South Bay Waste Management Authority explains the agency runs a MRF (materials recycling facility) that has experienced two fires per month caused by LI batteries. An LI battery-sparked fire at the agency\u2019s Shoreline Environmental Center MRF cost $8.5 million in 2016.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gans explained in a webinar, \u201cThey are bombs, they get crushed by the equipment, they get tangled up in the rolling stock and then tangled up in the MRF. And in a house of paper, you don\u2019t want fires.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are bombs, they get crushed by the equipment, they get tangled up in the rolling stock and then tangled up in the MRF,\u201d Gans said in the October webinar by The Recycling Partnership. \u201cAnd in a house of paper, you don\u2019t want fires.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n