Battery recycling boosted by dentist-style ultrasonics, if manufacturers can cooperate
- Reference: 1625133730
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/01/battery_recycling_ultrasonic_delamination/
- Source link:
Electric vehicles may come with impressive green credentials, at least while they're being driven, but as any laptop owner knows batteries come with a finite lifespan. End-of-life EV batteries may find a second use as backing storage for power grids but there will come a time when they need to be recycled – and the current process is neither clean nor easy.
Enter ultrasonic delamination, a new technique for separating the materials in lithium-ion batteries for reuse, as discovered by researchers at the Faraday Institution, the University of Leicester, Swansea University, and the University of Birmingham.
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"This novel procedure is 100 times quicker and greener than conventional battery recycling techniques and leads to a higher purity of recovered materials," claimed Andy Abbott, professor at the University of Leicester. "It essentially works in the same way as a dentist's ultrasonic descaler, breaking down adhesive bonds between the coating layer and the substrate.
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[4]Youtube Video
"It is likely that the initial use of this technology will feed recycled materials straight back into the battery production line. This is a real step change moment in battery recycling," he added.
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[6]Youtube Video
"For the full value of battery technologies to be captured for the UK, we must focus on the entire life cycle – from the mining of critical materials to battery manufacture to recycling – to create a circular economy that is both sustainable for the planet and profitable for industry," commented Pam Thomas, PhD, chief executive of the Faraday Institution, which runs the Reuse and Recycling of Lithium Ion Batteries (ReLiB) programme.
[7]Inventor of the graphite anode – key Li-ion battery tech – says he can now charge an electric car in 10 minutes
[8]Tesla owners win legal fight after software update crippled older Model S batteries
[9]Hyundai and Singapore's top telco charge towards electric vehicle battery subscription service, 5G smart factories
[10]OVH writes off another data centre – SBG1 – and reveals new smoking battery incident
"This effort to deliver commercial, societal and environment impact for the UK is showing great promise. It is imperative that academia, industry and government redouble their efforts to develop the technological, economic and legal infrastructure that would allow a UK EV battery recycling industry to become established to realise the full benefits of a decarbonised transport sector."
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The current state of the art in lithium-ion battery recycling relies on shredding batteries then immersing the remains in concentrated acids in order to remove graphite and lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt oxides from the electrodes. The ultrasonic system, by contrast, can operate as a continuous-feed process using extremely dilute acids or plain water - and results in the recovery of greater quantities of purer materials.
The trick, as is always the case with such research, will be getting the technology out of the lab and into industry. Here, the team has a head start: its invention is an adaption of a system currently in use in the food preparation industry. Discussions are under way with "several battery manufacturers and recycling companies," the Faraday Institution has confirmed, with a view to installing a demonstration system at an industrial site by the end of the year.
It'll take industry cooperation to commercialise the system, sadly: the Faraday Institution notes that in order for the batteries to be disassembled ready for processing, they must first be designed for disassembly. At present, many battery manufacturers glue components together to boost stability – which makes them difficult, or even impossible, to separate for end-of-life materials recovery.
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The team's work has been published under open-access terms in the journal [13]Green Chemistry , while a patent has been applied for ahead of its hopeful commercialisation. ®
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[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_uA9MMjp-0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/14/rachid_yazami_the_future_of_ev_batteries/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/24/tesla_software_norway/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/24/hyundai_and_singtel_ev_battery_subscriptions/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/22/ovh_sbg1_written_off_restoration_update/
[11] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/06/30/ultrasonic-delamination-infographic.jpg
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[13] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/GC/D1GC01623G#!divAbstract
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Lead acid should die
Well, I have a Shorai lithium iron phosphate battery in my 14 year old FJR-1300.
It's got far better storage characteristics, and has no problem sitting 3 weeks. The only slight downside is that it doesn't like the cold. So if it's cold, it sometimes takes 2 tries to start.
You didn't mention it's a lot lighter. It feels like an empty battery case.
Re: Lead acid should die
Yeh, but the charge damage failure at -5 degrees C (?) is prevented by the temperature sensor in the BMS.... and also lead acid power drops to 50% at 0 celsius, so I don't view that as a fail point when comparing it against lead acid.... Lead acid sucks at low temps too!
For the car I really want Lithium *Titanate*, it has the vastly superior stability, and even deeper power cycling. LiFePo4 would be fine for the car, but once I found out about Lithium Titanate, I suddenly want that instead.... knowing if I buy LiFePo4 now, I will have it for a decade or two before having an excuse to replace it!
If I hadn't read up on Lithium Titanate, then I'd install Phosphate now. As it is, its only in the motorbikes and the UPS's, the motorcycle because I leave them at home(s), and when I come back they need a new battery. That was a PITA, and UPS's because I need to know that if the power goes down, the battery will actually work!
[added] I see FJR-1300 is a motorcycle.
Re: Lead acid should die
The short answer is the Lead-Acid batteries are simple to make and relatively easy to recycle.
A lithium battery is significantly more expensive than the equivalent lead acid.
This is BIG news
If they can industrialise this (and keep the noise away) it's one of the most significant developments for batteries in quite some time. Recycling has always been a major problem, so if they have truly improved that it's a game changer.
Re: This is news
Recycling has always been a major problem
But someone else's problem.
It'll take industry cooperation to commercialise the system, sadly: the Faraday Institution notes that in order for the batteries to be disassembled ready for processing, they must first be designed for disassembly.
There's the problem. So take a Tesla Model 3-
The Standard Range version carries 2,976 cells arranged in 96 groups of 31. The Long Range version carries 4,416 cells arranged in 96 groups of 46, and weighs[185] 1,060 pounds (480 kg)
And to paraphrase Mike Oldfield, they're tubular cells. So first extract battery packs from car, then extract batteries from packs, then extract chemicals from cells. All without your recycling plant self-combusting in a cloud of toxic flourine products.
So although most products now do a spot of Greenwashing and make various claims about how sustainable they are, reality tends to be that the 'recycling' problem is usually offloaded to someone else. They've flogged you the product, they've got your money, and disposal might be down to whoever's got a recycling contract with your Council.
So if manufacturers actually had to bear the full cost of recycling, rather than kicking the 4,416 metal cans down the road.. Then there may be some incentive to redesign products to make recycling cheaper or more efficient. That may take regulatory pressure, which would result in some financial difficulties, eg flog a Model 3 and book both the sale, but also a future liability for when it becomes end-of-life.
Somehow, I suspect there'd be a lot of lobbying to keep this as someone else's problem to avoid those liabilities.
AFAIK, Tesla's also going the opposite direction. Currently there's a bit of a market taking the battery packs from Teslas and re-purposing them. It's relatively easy to drop the pack, split out the bricks and do stuff with them. But there's also a trend to pack the batteries into more structural elements of the cars, making it harder to do that.. Which is a bit dfferent to the original vision of easily swappable battery packs for quick refuelling. And a handy benefit of building obsolecence into EVs, so drivers might want new ones every 3 years. Kinda problematic for resale values, but again, that's someone else's problem.
I'm disappointed that they didn't invent a sonic screwdriver to dismantle the batteries.
Coat 'cause that's where I keep my screwdriver.
"[...] an adaption of a system currently in use in the food preparation industry."
Is that a process for stripping every last fragment of flesh from bones?
Lead acid should die
Isn't it time lead acid batteries were killed for good? LiFePo4 is a practical drop in replacement for them, same charge profile, built in BMS, lifetime is vastly increased, lighter, more reliable, deeper cycle, so lower capacity needed for the same task, lower internal discharge, so longer shelf life if not charged.
So why the f**k is lead-acid still a thing?
I just had yet another UPS lead acid battery die on me, a two year lifespan is just not enough. A bit of searching and I find you can buy drop in Lithium LiFePo4 battery replacements for UPS batteries , same size, compatible charge profile, and it was slightly cheaper than the replacement lead acid too. 2000-4000 cycle lifetime to 80% capacity. So 10 years plus, to reach a capacity that the lead-acid had when it was new.
Drop in replacements for motorcycle and car batteries too, again LiFePo4, again with a built in BMS to protect it from the starter motor surge.
They have mini-UPS's now, little 12v, 5v 9v lithium UPS units you plug inbetween a router or device and its power block..... dirt cheap because its not doing any major AC to DC to AC conversion. LiFePo4 again. No lead acid.
If you have a UPS, slap a higher capacity LiFePo4 in, and you've got mobile mains power.... a "solar generator" without the MPPT charge controller, but then who actually charges those things from solar anyway.
Die already lead-acid, I will not miss you, die already!