New research has shown that materials obtained from recycled batteries outperform those made with raw ingredients, while plastic waste is finding new life as fuel.
The minerals lithium, manganese and cobalt have been in demand for decades as prime ingredients for lithium ion batteries that power all of our portable rechargeable devices. Now, the rise of electric vehicles is expected to push that demand up by 35 per cent by 2030.
One issue with these batteries is that very few of them are being recycled because manufacturers believed that reused material would not perform as well. Now, a group led by researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts have demonstrated a technique that shows how recycled batteries actually perform better.
Used batteries were shredded into pieces and exposed to acids that remove impurities leaving 90 per cent of the three main ingredients behind. When the recycled lithium, manganese and cobalt were incorporated into the cathode of a new battery, the researchers found that it could go through up to 53 per cent more charging and discharging cycles as a battery made with fresh materials. It turns out that the process of recycling rearranges the crystals in the metals to enable them to perform better and have a longer lifetime.
This technique could potentially avert the problem of billions of dead batteries ending up in landfills.
Meanwhile, a UK green technology company has found a way to take plastic garbage, the kind that is not...
Read Full Story: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/two-new-approaches-to-recycling-can-reduce-waste-and-lower-carbon-emissions-1.6238312
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