Part 2

Part 2
[00:00:00] Electric vehicles are becoming more and more common with each
passing year, and their adoption is only expected to accelerate. Some estimates
predict a third of new vehicles sold by the year 2030 will be electric, and that
poses something of a delayed problem. What do we do with all the lithium ion
batteries that power those electric vehicles once they go back?
Do we just chuck them in the landfill and make fresh ones, or is there a way to
squeeze more juice out of a used battery? There are a lot of reasons to recycle
lithium ion batteries. For starters, they use a variety of raw materials like
lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel. Every kilogram of raw material
recovered from them is a kilogram that doesn't need to be extracted from the
earth.
In countries like Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, Obtaining the lithium needed
for the battery's cathode uses copious amounts of water in some of the
driest places on earth. Other metals typically used in lithium ion batteries
come with the usual impacts associated with mining, but [00:01:00] there's a
terrible dark side to one metal in particular, cobalt.
By some estimates, more than 70% of the world's cobalt comes from one place,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Anybody there can just dig it up and sell
it, which has led to armed conflict, unsafe mining practices, and the use of child
labor. Cutting back on the need for new cobalt can also reduce the human
suffering mining it indirectly causes.
Recycling batteries also keeps materials out of landfills, eliminating the chance
that cobalt, nickel, and manganese can contaminate the soil and groundwater.
But despite these upsides, as of 2019, fewer than 5% of lithium ion batteries
were recycled. That's partly because lithium ion battery recycling Faces the
same challenges that other recycling operations face, namely being cost
competitive with virgin materials.
In all the ways extracting lithium and mining cobalt is costly, it's often still
cheaper than recycling in terms of dollars and [00:02:00] cents. The issue is
made even more complicated because of the nature of today's battery industry.
There's no standard for how to make a lithium ion cell. Cathodes can be made
up of lithium cobalt oxide, or lithium nickel manganese cobalt, or lithium nickel
cobalt aluminum oxide, or lithium iron phosphate.
Because recyclers can't pick and choose which batteries come to their facilities,
they often have to use one size fits all solutions. Often, that means burning the
batteries. Smelting lithium ion batteries recovers the most expensive metals,
namely cobalt and nickel, as well as copper. and organic compounds get burned
off, and recyclers have to deal with the toxic fluorine
Electric
vehicles are becoming more and more common with each passing year, and
their adoption is only expected to accelerate. Some estimates predict a third of
new [00:03:00] vehicles sold by the year 2030 will be electric. And that poses
something of a delayed problem. What do we do with all the lithium ion
batteries that power those electric vehicles once they go back?
Do we just chuck them in the landfill and make fresh ones? Or is there a way to
squeeze more juice out of a used battery? There are a lot of reasons to recycle
lithium ion batteries. For starters, they use a variety of raw materials like
lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel. Every kilogram of raw material
recovered from them is a kilogram that doesn't need to be extracted from the
earth.
In countries like Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, Obtaining the lithium needed for
the battery's cathode uses copious amounts of water in some of the driest places
on earth. Other metals typically used in lithium ion batteries come with the
usual impacts associated with mining, but there's a terrible dark side to one
metal in particular, cobalt.
By some estimates, more than 70% of the world's cobalt comes from one
[00:04:00] place, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Anybody there can
just dig it up and sell it. which has led to armed conflict, unsafe mining
practices, and the use of child labor. Cutting back on the need for new cobalt
can also reduce the human suffering mining it indirectly causes.
Recycling batteries also keeps materials out of landfills, eliminating the chance
that cobalt, nickel, and manganese can contaminate the soil. and groundwater.
But despite these upsides, as of 2019, fewer than 5% of lithium ion batteries
were recycled. That's partly because lithium ion battery recycling faces the same
challenges that other recycling operations face.
Namely, being cost competitive with virgin materials. In all the ways extracting
lithium and mining cobalt is costly, it's often still cheaper than recycling in
terms of dollars and cents. The issue is made even more complicated because of
the nature of today's battery industry. There's no standard for how to make a
lithium ion cell.[00:05:00]
Cathodes can be made up of lithium cobalt oxide, or lithium nickel manganese

cobalt, or lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide, or lithium iron phosphate.
Because recyclers can't pick and choose which batteries come to their facilities,
they often have to use one size fits all solutions. Often, that means burning the
batteries.
Smelting lithium ion batteries recovers the most expensive metals, namely
cobalt and nickel, as well as copper. However, lithium, aluminum, and organic
compounds get burned off, and recyclers have to deal with the toxic fluorine
compounds the process...

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Cathodes can be made up of lithium cobalt oxide, or lithium nickel manganese

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