this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023

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submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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New Recipe for Efficient, Environmentally Friendly Battery Recycling / A new method enables 100% of the aluminum and 98% of the lithium from spent car batteries to be recovered and recycled.::A new, efficient method enables 100% of the aluminum and 98% of the lithium from spent car batteries to be recovered and recycled while minimizing the loss of valuable raw materials.

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[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 67 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

We've known how to very effectively recycle batteries for a long time now, it's just been far cheaper to mine new materials than to recycle existing ones

This article unfortunately doesn't really go into the economics of this process

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Cheaper or carbon efficient (or both)? The problem we've run into is that the cheapest solution (therefore most profitable) has been our go-to solution. In the short term at least, reducing our carbon emissions will be expensive.

[–] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Reminds me of the great 'Helium' crisis that poofed out of existence once MSM realized that half the comments in every article were like 'No, it's just never been worth to capture it from fracking' lmfao.

[+] tdawg@lemmy.world -7 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I also like how posts like this presupose we want to recycle instead of REDUCE usage

[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

These are not exclusive.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And yet we never hear about one of them

[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean I agree we need to reduce usage even more than we need to recycle, but it’s falling for the Nirvana fallacy to ignore the fact that recycling improvements still have enormous potential to help reduce the environmental impact.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world -5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

The world doesn't run on fallacies. It runs on human attention. If everyone is sharing and posting about one thing then they aren't sharing and posting about another. There's only so much time in a day

[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

But you said there was a presupposition to recycling INSTEAD of reuse. They aren’t exclusive. You can rightly say “I wish we talked more about reduction instead of recycling” but there was no presupposition.

[–] ZombieTheZombieCat@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

When did this all or nothing way of thinking start in American culture? Has it always been like this and I'm just now noticing it, or is it much more prevalent now because it's a side effect of a lack of critical thinking skills

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

We are trying to reduce usage as well, it's just not as obvious.

Like sure, if you wanna say no more cars, it's not happening at that level, but all the chemistry improvements that increase the efficiency of the batteries is still a reduction.

We've reduced our need for Cobalt, some battery chemistries don't even use it anymore.

I think we're still settling in on what is the ideal range of a car for cost vs range, but we'll reach a point where an increase in performance leads to a reduction in cells used.

Solid state batteries will be a huge jump on that front sometime in the next decade probably.

I'm still baffled by the quantity of non rechargeable replaceable batteries out there. I have an automatic soap dispenser, it uses rechargable AA. But you know there are people out there still buying single use ones and swapping them multiple times a year.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah and that's all fair. I just wish people cared enough to make the more effective method the primary one is all. No one really talks about or discusses reduction we're always hearing and learning about recycling

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

I'm close to exclusively using rechargeables, but some items simply can't get enough voltage.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

No they don't.

And also, if you think planet earth is going to all agree to stop having road transport and get rid of any battery devices, you're living in a fantasy world - batteries are needed, and they should be reused and recycled.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Really feels like we should figure out the recycling angle on a thing as an intrinsic part of the design phase…

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It actually is. I think the DoD required it at some point, it became apparent with destabilizing aging explosives and nuclear power and weapons that it was vital, as well as dismantling anything that the enemy could gain knowledge from.

However, like most good things, it's rarely implemented where it's not required.

[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

DoD calls it life cycle engineering, and it's basically standard for anything but software. Problem is that corporations aren't required to do anything like that.

[–] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Perhaps with this new technology it will no longer be necessary for the "Empire" aka USA to stage a coup d'état in a poor country in Latin America to steal its lithium. No, capitalism doesn't work this way coups are much easier cheaper and faster.

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Sounds awesome. That means that whoever makes new batteries is going to buy it out from under them and then bury it in a safe somewhere.

[–] Zdvarko@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Its already being done in Canada https://youtu.be/H85oUBsvBN8?feature=shared

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 6 points 11 months ago

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[–] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 months ago

Let it cook