A ship carrying 800 tonnes of Li-Ion batteries caught fire. What could possibly go wrong?
- Reference: 1704157094
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/01/02/ship_li_ion_fire/
- Source link:
This story starts when the good ship Genius Star XI left South Korea on December 17, bound for the United States. According to [1]Maritime News , the voyage struck trouble on Christmas Day when some of the batteries caught fire. The vessel's crew reportedly used carbon dioxide to douse the blaze, but it spread a little before being contained.
When such batteries catch fire, they are at risk of thermal runaway. When that happens, expect a lot of heat, fire, and nasty smoke. A ship carrying 800 tonnes of Li-Ions, all blazing away fiercely, is not a pleasant prospect.
[2]
On the 28th, the US Coast Guard [3]received a report of a "contained but ongoing" fire aboard the vessel.
[4]
[5]
Two days later, the Coast Guard [6]advised that a preliminary assessment of the vessel's condition led to the conclusion that "the vessel is stable with no indication of heat in the cargo holds."
Phew.
[7]
But on New Year's Eve the authorities were still not satisfied the Genius Star XI was ready to resume its voyage. [8]The USCG reported that the atmosphere inside the affected cargo hold remained non-flammable, indicating no immediate risk of fire, but the hold remains sealed.
The ship has been told to park near Broad Bay, Alaska, and emergency towing facilities are in place in case it needs to be towed to a place where it can do no harm.
[9]Lenovo's USB-C Power Banks pack more heat than expected
[10]Samsung are amateurs – NASA shows how you really do a battery fire
[11]Exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phablets recalled immediately
[12]Watt's next for batteries? It'll be more of the same, not longer life, because physics and chemistry are hard
The intended purpose of the batteries aboard Genius Star XI is unclear. Nor is the cause of the fire known – an important matter, given Li-Ion batteries can catch fire if they're crushed, pierced, or otherwise damaged, which could easily happen aboard a storm-tossed ship. Badly made Li-Ions can also go up spontaneously if the separators between cathode and anode fail.
The world is increasingly reliant on Li-Ion batteries, which power everything from electric vehicles to portable electronics – and even oil tankers. One such vessel [13]caught fire in late 2022 after a Li-Ion battery exploded – an ironic conflagration of old and new energy sources. ®
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[1] https://maritime-executive.com/article/lithium-ion-battery-fire-contained-aboard-bulker-off-dutch-harbor
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZZOYdYwHBaL4a122C7NNIQAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3628604/coast-guard-assists-vessel-on-fire-near-dutch-harbor-alaska/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZZOYdYwHBaL4a122C7NNIQAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZZOYdYwHBaL4a122C7NNIQAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3628756/unified-command-reports-no-active-fire-on-vessel-loitering-outside-dutch-harbor/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZZOYdYwHBaL4a122C7NNIQAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3628804/unified-command-reports-no-immediate-risk-of-fire-aboard-mv-genius-star-xi/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/23/lenovo_recalls_usbc_power_banks/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/29/nasa_shows_a_real_battery_fire/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/02/recall_samsungs_exploding_galaxy_note_7_devices/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/30/beyond_lithium_ion_batteries/
[13] https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20231109.aspx
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I assume they discharge batteries before shipping them?
I don't get the point of these articles. Is there a big PR push by oil companies?
Re: I assume they discharge batteries before shipping them?
They will have charge in them, as part of the manufacturing process is to apply charge to form the surfaces (chemistry / texture) of the plates after initial assembly. The article does not mention if this is nickel (NMC) of iron (LFP) Lithium cells, the latter do not suffer from thermal runaway due to damage.
Re: I assume they discharge batteries before shipping them?
When's the last time you bought a phone or any other device with a Li-Ion battery and it was 0% charged when you got it? It's not like they're shucking every iPhone that comes into port, charging them, then reapplying the shrink wrap. It's done at the factory and they just sit in a powered off state while they make their way on the slow boat from China and to various warehouses before being sold onto people like you.
Time for full LiFePo switch
They don't have the runaway burn problem as the other widely available Li* and a few other variants.
Re: Time for full LiFePo switch
Lithium-ion batteries are/were used for their favourable energy densities and cost; and because of Chinese owned Patent issues with the much safer and cheaper Li-iron-phosphate (LFP) types - The majority of Chinese Electric vehicles (obviously) use LFP. These patents are about to expire/have expired and it seems likely that for most new vehicles the LFP type will be used. Tesla have already moved more than half their models to LFP, giving a much safer vehicle, but at a cost of ~15% reduced range (probably not an issue for most normal cars).
Many reported electric vehicle fires appear to be from Li-ion batteries from electric scooters charged within households. Perhaps battery swapping, [1]as is common in Taiwan , solves this?
[1] https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/electric-vehicles/battery-swapping-taiwan
I'm betting that would have been quite the fireworks display if the ship had sunk because of the fire.
I'm fascinated by nanoflow liquid batteries. Especially for things like cars, they seem to be extremely well suited since they're not a fire risk, you can "recharge" them in about the same time as it takes to pump gas into a car today, and the energy density is already around that of Li-Ion and it's only like 50% of what it's capable of. You'd probably be able to quickly and easily convert existing gas stations for use with this new fuel which would make it a lot cheaper to roll out compared to setting up EV charging stations everywhere and running high voltage, high capacity, lines to them.
https://newatlas.com/energy/influit-flow-battery-density/
Carbon Dioxide?
Evidently it worked but I'm surprised because I'd expect the lithium to do what magnesium does and tear apart the CO2 to get at the oxygen.