Occupational Threat of Recycling Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Vacuum Reduction.

[NNadir]

Here's a fun paper I came across this morning: Occupational Threat of Recycling Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Vacuum Reduction, Keyi Lin, Mi Lin, and Jujun Ruan ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2022 10 (46), 15297-15304

An excerpt of the introduction is kind of fun, although we should be clear that the theory that we will someday recycle all the batteries we keep hyping (when we're not hyping hydrogen) is largely just that, theoretical. Right now the bulk of the world's growing inventory of batteries is electronic waste, rather problematic electronic waste at that. Don't worry. Be happy. There's lots of talk about recycling batteries, just like there is lots of talk - more than half a century of it - about how solar and wind will destroy the nuclear industry while providing 100% of the world's energy someday after we're all dead and done with our personal consumption.

Here's some battery recycling talk, unusual inasmuch it actually raises issues of human and environmental health in doing so:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are called “white oil” (1) because they are replacing traditional energy sources. With the greenhouse effect becoming more and more serious, countries around the world have issued relevant policies to promote the use of LIBs and other new energy. (2,3) According to the statistical data of new energy vehicles released by the European Union, the output of electric vehicles is expected to reach 200–500 million by 2028. (4) Just as a coin has two sides, the wide application of batteries will also cause some problems. The cycle of charging and discharging reduces its working performance, and the service life of lithium battery is about 3–10 years. (5) Therefore, the output of spent LIBs will gradually increase. Thus, it is very necessary for us to research on spent LIBs. (6,7) Spent LIBs contain a lot of metal resources, (8−11) which can bring considerable economic effects. (12,13) In addition to economic benefits, the recovery of spent LIBs has strategic significance, such as Li (14) and Co. (15) The recycling technology of spent LIBs is also constantly developing, (16,17) and environmentally unfriendly technologies are eliminated. (18,19) Vacuum reduction (20) is encouraged to be used in the resource recovery of spent LIBs because it claims to be efficient (21,22) and environmentally friendly. (23) Zhang et al. (24) researched under vacuum and at 600–1000 °C and found that LiCoO2 is selectively converted from the anode to Co or cobalt oxide and Li2CO3 by carbothermal reduction. Meanwhile, Huang et al. (20) prepared LiAl5O8 and LiAlO2 under vacuum reduction.

However, it is irresponsible to blindly issue an environmentally friendly definition. The interior of the spent LIB is not entirely composed of metal elements; it has binders and conductive agents. (19) Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a common organic binder, which has chemical stability and excellent thermal, so it is widely used in the attaching the cathode to the Al foil of LIBs. (25,26) However, fluoride was added to PVDF to improve its performance. In the process of battery treatment, it is inevitable that fluoride (such as HF) will leak, (27) which is an environmental problem that needs high attention. (28,29) In addition to the binder, halogen elements are also added to the conductive agent inside the spent LIB, for example, LiPF4, LiPF6, and LiClO4. (30) The decomposition of these substances will not only cause irreversible damage to the battery but also damage the ecology when released into the environment. (31) The organic electrolyte in the spent LIB will react quickly when it comes in contact with the water molecules and releases toxic gases (such as aldehydes, ketones, and phosphorus pentafluoride) in the atmosphere. (32,33) Hence, it may cause environmental pollution inadvertently.

Some studies have focused on the possible pollution caused by spent LIBs. Due to improper supervision, spent LIBs have caused serious environmental problems and are considered as “hazardous wastes.” Spent LIB contains “toxic” elements [such as Li (5–7%), Mn (5–11%), plastic diaphragm (7%), electrolyte materials (15%), Ni (5–20%), and Co (5–25%)]. (34) When exposed to the environment, these substances will enter the water environment, soil environment, and atmospheric environment, causing irreversible effects on human beings and ecology. (35,36) There is pollution when the spent LIB is naturally exposed, and it will also bring pollution during its recycling process. (37) For example, in the process of LIB discharge, toxic and harmful substances will be produced. (38) The released substances will corrode the iron shell outside the spent LIB, leading to electrode leakage and seriously threatening the environment and human health. (39) Some directly released toxins can directly damage human nerves and induce body problems. (40) Because the original intention of LIB design is convenient to use, (41) it is inevitable that there will be many problems when recycling. However, few people pay attention to the specific threats of the recycling process.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possible pollution in the process of vacuum reduction of spent LIBs, conduct an occupational threat assessment, and study the pollutant generation pathway. Occupational threats refer to the threats that occur with a certain frequency in the work process and that the professional practitioners are exposed to. This paper mainly studies the threats caused by occupational exposure. In this paper, the following experiments were carried out: (1) The particulate matter 10 (PM10) of vacuum tube furnace accessories was collected and analyzed to assess the threat of exposure to heavy metals. (2) The gas produced in the process of vacuum reduction of spent LIBs and the organic residues after the reaction were collected to determine the pollutants in gas and organic residues and analyze their exposure threat. (3) The process of vacuum reduction of spent LIBs was simulated by molecular dynamics to analyze the formation principle and pathway of pollutants. (4) Through the analysis of the experimental results, the corresponding occupational threat control measures were formulated. This experiment will help to make up for the blank of risk assessment of vacuum reduction spent LIB technology, improve the defects of this technology, and promote the popularization and industrial application of this technology...

I added the bold and italics for some excerpts I found particularly juicy, in particular to "Few people pay attention..."

Of course, few people pay attention to the second law of thermodynamics, which is why we hear so much bullshit rhetoric about how energy storage, which always wastes energy is supposed to be "green."

What we call "green," is mining poor people to mine (or recycle) so we bourgeois types can declare ourselves "green."

"Blessed are the oblivious, for they shall inherit the Earth..."

Well they have inherited the Earth, and frankly, to state it baldly, they're fucking it up, speeding, accelerating, toward making it unlivable.

Some figures from the text:



The caption:

Figure 1. Flow chart of risk assessment and formation mechanism of toxic substances generated in the vacuum reduction process of recovering spent LIBs.

The caption:

Figure 2. (a) Equilibrium state mixture model of organic matters.; (b) molecular dynamics simulation result of the organic matter mixture model at 400 °C; (c) molecular dynamics simulation result of the organic matter mixture model at 600 °C. (b-1) Details of molecular dynamics simulation results of organic matter mixture model at 400 °C; (c-1) details of molecular dynamics simulation results of organic matter mixture model at 600 °C.

The caption:

Figure 3. Pollution formation path in the vacuum reduction process of spent LIBs.

The authors of this paper are Chinese, and of course, back when the Chinese were poor, Westerners mined poor people there to "recycle" our stuff. There are lots of interesting papers in the literature about the concentration of heavy metals and swell flame retardants in the plasma of Chinese children as a result.

China is now a wealthy country of course, so they're well on their way to restricting the mining of its population to bear the health and environmental costs of making Americans green through recycling.

Don't worry. Be happy.

The world, led by the racist fascist Elon Musk, is successfully mining cobalt slaves in the "Democratic Republic" of Congo to make our batteries, and there's no reason we can't mine them to recycle them for us. As for the "think only happy thoughts" belief that recycling cobalt will make cobalt mining obsolete, I note that everyone is happily carrying on about how the battery industry is expanding. I attended a lecture recently which made a point that should have been obvious, but somehow isn't: You cannot rely on recycling for material supply when material is in use, particularly when use is increasing. Moreover, even with infinite energy, which we don't have, recycling always involves material loss, and the other word for material loss is "pollution."

I trust you're enjoying a long weekend.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. What is "fun" about the intro? The human suffering highlighted? Not fun for me. . . nt

[NNadir]

2. It's called sarcasm. I don't use smileys.

I would hope that in context this should be clear. I also refer to mining people, as if people were inanimate objects, which is, in fact, how we in wealthy countries, treat them.