Lithium recyling status

[knobby]

I found this link to lithium battery recycling information-

www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/10/electric-cars-big-battery-waste-problem-lithium-recycling

By reading through this article on poisoning here-

qz.com/1231792/a-battery-recycling-plant-owned-by-indian-businessmen-caused-a-lead-poisoning-crisis-in-kenya/

This hit me like WOW, so we are not recycling ANY of these Li batteries, and we are not even PLANNING to in the future?  Uhhh, yeah so where are they going to end up?  And what exactly is in these things?  And how will these chemicals effect us?

I know its seems a random thing to post here, but any body interested in gasoline fueled vehicles should be aware of whats going on.  It seems like hard facts on the matter are ignored in favor of happy fuzzy feelings and buzz words.  Legislation is slowly being introduced outlawing gas powered things guys..  for better or worse.

[milly]

I use to do electric power bicycles about 10 yr ago and favoured sla battery over lithium then as the recycling didn't exist then plus other environmental issues extracting the stuff from the earth. I knows sealed lead acid batteries are heavier and range not so good but then range from lithium wasn't much better unless you believe the salesman. People having me build tricycles were fine with sla's but not many liked them on normal bikes till I just sold the bikes only with sla's. Plus most of the lead acid battery is recycled.
I am surprised lithium isn't at present.

[lilpinny]

Couldn't be any worse than what gas and oil is already doing and has been doing.

[milly]

Pro's and con's for everything I suppose.

[FrankenMech]

I am looking forward to a new battery type based on Manganese. Lithium is just not good for so many reasons.

Check this out:
phys.org/news/2017-08-energy-density-battery.html
phys.org/news/2018-02-scientists-century-old-speculation-chemistry-high-performance.html#nRlv
www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00467-x

[milly]

I've only had chance to read the 2018 link, makes interesting reading will read the other after work.

[FrankenMech]

Basically there is a whole lot of interest and activity once they figured out what was blocking the recharging system with the Manganese-Zinc system.

[knobby]

Mar 19, 2018 12:59:35 GMT -5 lilpinny said:

Couldn't be any worse than what gas and oil is already doing and has been doing.

For our sake, and the next generation's sake I hope so.

[bluegoatwoods]

You would think that there would be an economic motive to recycle, wouldn't you? My understanding is that there are some elements and chemical compounds in those batteries that are not to be found just anywhere and that the worlds total supply of them has limits.

Here's my guess. When these batteries have gone through their useful lifespan, these ingredients have formed new chemical compounds with other ingredients in there. These compounds can be split back into the original elements and compounds. But only at some particular cost which, right now, is far higher than simply mining and engineering new compounds for new batteries.

We can hope that pressure caused by scarcity of new materials will force innovations on the issue of cheapening the recycling. That would be a good thing. In fact, the market is certain to push in that direction.

Let's just hope it doesn't take too long.