These processes involve an intermediate “black mass” which contains hazardous substances such as alkylfluorphosphates that pose significant threats to human health. Other concerns include incinerated plastics, hazardous slags, and toxic gas emissions. Lithium is lost as slag and is difficult to extract, even from post-processing. Pyrometallurgical processes involve temperatures as high as 1,000 C. Furthermore, batteries-especially ones that have been damaged or experienced thermal runaway-often release extremely poisonous and / or flammable gasses such as hydrogen, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen flouride upon venting. These airborne particles (many less than 10 microns in size) can contain toxic elements including arsenic, chromium, cobalt, and lead that contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and may settle on the ground where they pollute the soil. Traditional battery designs don’t take safe and efficient disassembly into consideration, which means taking batteries apart can generate dust. Each of these steps has its own underlying challenges. This includes dismantling spent batteries, physical / chemical treatments, and hydrometallurgical / pyrometallurgical steps to recover valuable materials with high purity. The full battery recycling process combines several intermediate recycling technologies. It may seem like current recycling technologies are highly effective at a first glance however, critical studies using lifecycle analysis (LCA) show that several factors affect both potential economic and environmental gains. Crossan Chair Professor in Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)Īs the demand for electric vehicles increases, so does the need to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Nikhil Koratkar, co-founder of Alsym Energy, John A.
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