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During a can't-sleep youtube session, I came across a video that explains how lithium-ion battery recycling works. I previously thought everything had to be dis
by Eric_WVGG 3y ago
During a can't-sleep youtube session, I came across a video that explains how lithium-ion battery recycling works. I previously thought everything had to be disassembled, making recycling prohibitively impractical.
Turns out that's not the case at all, they can literally just throw stuff in and crush it and at least have a moderately easy time getting the raw materials of batteries out. Made me feel a little more optimistic about things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ
- modeless 3y agoIt makes sense when you think about mining. Mining is not just lifting chunks of metal out of holes in the ground. The product of mining is ore, which then has to be refined. The percentage of the desired metal in ore can be less than the percentage of lithium in a battery. So a battery is just a different kind of ore that needs refining.
- PaulHoule 3y agoI am amused that very similar chemistry is involved with battery recycling as in reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, both “hydrometallurgy” that involves dissolving it all in nitric acid and doing acid-base extractions with solvents and “pyrometallurgy” with molten salts. It’s not that surprising because it is all about extracting a few very precious metals that are fairly concentrated but mixed in with much of the periodic table. https://elcanindustries.com/blog_posts/black-mass-recovery-process/ https://elcanindustries.com/blog_posts/black-mass-recovery-p...