Engineers produce green energy for power grids without plundering our Earth’s non-renewable resources. However, they also need big batteries to balance supply to consumer demand throughout a twenty-four-hour day. They must therefore produce these batteries from renewable resources to complete the cycle. Recycling old lithium batteries into new ones is one way to achieve this.
Recycling Lithium Particles From Old Batteries
Lithium particle batteries are the key to the New Energy Economy according to BOL Media Group. That’s because they are driving the project to decarbonize everything we consume. However, those products mostly still rely on materials we take from Earth, sometimes in countries at odds with our values. This also applies to lithium batteries, depending on the mineral’s source.
But we can’t manufacture lithium synthetically as far as we know. However, we can recycle the lithium particles from batteries past their useful life. BOL Media Group chatted with Tim Johnston of Li-Cycle Holding Corp around May 16, 2022.
“We refine those materials to deliver synthetic substances,” he explains. “Those synthetic substances are equivalent to any mined materials. We separate to an atomic level, break down the metals and we remake them.”
They Recycle “Up to 95%” of Old Battery Materials
The Li-Cycle Holding Corp claims “We can recuperate up to 95% of the multitude of materials in lithium cells. And return them to new batteries, or to the economy. This is a net ecological advantage compared with mining these materials.” That’s because there are less emissions, lower water consumption, and no fresh mining.
This is a step in the right direction going forward down the road we all must go. However, the techniques we describe would need vast up-scaling to have significant effect. Perhaps the batteries industry’s moral compass needs to make a gigantic shift first. There are so many other distractions, including the war in Europe demanding our attention.
Breaking News
Australian Mandatory Button Battery Standard
