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Processing ore is easier, because you can run tons of ore through an industrial process, and not have to dismantle microscopic pieces of each battery
by alisonkisk 5y ago
Processing ore is easier, because you can run tons of ore through an industrial process, and not have to dismantle microscopic pieces of each battery
- saltcured 5y agoNote, I am neither a battery nor recycling expert here, but am somewhat interested in dragging unstated arguments to the surface! I think proponents of this economic view of recycling often argue that you could mechanically shred/grind such post-consumer products into a big mess and think of it as a new type of high-density ore. It might take different refining stages, but they seem to have faith that industrial processing can be invented for these materials and that it ought to be less energy intensive than processing the very low density ores found in nature.
- kragen 5y agoThat's what the article says is being done on an industrial scale by pyrometallurgy. Search for "black mass" in the article.