He lithium It is one of the essential materials in the manufacture of electric car batteries. It has become so important that it is sometimes called White gold. With a demand of 442 kt (kilotonnes) forecast for 2030, compared to 92 kt in 2023, and a high risk of shortages, according to the International Energy Agencythe need to find alternative sources to lithium, such as recycled of existing lithium, is a real necessity.
Working on the recycling aspect, a team of researchers from the Rice University (Houston, USA) has developed a new method that recovers up to 50% of lithium of the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries in just 30 secondsAnd that is a real revolution.
The solution to recover lithium from batteries: microwave vitamin b4
A team of researchers from the Rice Laboratory has succeeded in developing an efficient way to extract lithium from used batteries. Used in consumer electronics, its demand has skyrocketed in recent years, particularly following the emergence of electric vehicles and, more generally, the global ecological transition.
And while the metal is reputed to be abundant – enough in any case to supply global demand for decades – not all lithium is extractable. Enormous water resources are needed, for example, often in arid environments.
Furthermore, it cannot be extracted at the rate at which it will be needed, as a lithium mine takes five years to become operational, not counting the start-up of refining, an activity that is also polluting. Finally, there is a geopolitical risk of running out of lithium in the West, since China controls almost the entire value chain of precious lithium, namely refining. For all these reasons, battery recycling is key.
Sohini Bhattacharyya and Salma Alhashimthe two Rice University researchers have succeeded in devising a fast, efficient and environmentally friendly method for the selective recovery of lithium. To do so, they used microwave radiation and a readily biodegradable solvent.
The study’s two authors, Sohini Bhattacharyya and Salma Alhashim (Photo: Gustavo Raskosky/Rice University).
The process extracts the 50% of lithium contained in cathodes of lithium ion batteries in just 30 seconds. A welcome development in a scenario where current recycling methods are long and tedious. Currently, less than 5% of lithium is reusablethey lament from the Rice laboratory.
“The recovery rate is so low because lithium is typically recovered last, after all the other metals, so our goal was to find a way to specifically target lithium,” said Salma Alhashim, a former Rice PhD student who is also lead author on the paper.
This method consists of using a eutectic solvent (a mixture that has high stability in the liquid state and whose components are insoluble in the solid state) composed of a mixture of choline chloride (60% is vitamin B4) and ethylene glycol.
The cathodes of used batteries are dipped in this solvent and subjected to microwaves. The microwaves act as an accelerator of the chemical reaction, “in the same way that a microwave oven quickly heats food,” explains Sohini Bhattacharyya.
With this new method it is possible Recover 87% of the lithium from a car battery in just 15 minutesUsing a conventional technique (such as an oil bath), it takes about 12 hours to extract a similar amount. The researchers point out that other materials, such as cobalt or the nickelcan be extracted by modifying the solvent.
“Another advantage is the stability of the solvent. Because the oil bath method takes much longer, the solvent starts to decompose, which does not happen with the short heating cycles of a microwave oven,” says Salma Alhashim.
The work of the Rice laboratory is emerging as an effective solution to the supply problems that are beginning to arise with this material.
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