Protein shake glycine

The automobile industry has taken the path of electrification. Sean electric, hybrids of any type or microhíbridoseveryone has something in common: larger or smaller, they set up a battery. And that carries a long -term problem: what will happen to that battery when Finish the car’s life cycle. The answer should be recycling, but current methods emit large amounts of waste and do not allow all lithium and other battery components to recover.

However, Chinese researchers believe they have found the key to recover 99.99% of the lithium of batteries. And the secret ingredient is something that is in the protein smoothies that we consume to gain muscle mass: glycine.

Need. Our dependence on lithium batteries It’s worrying. Numerous devices have them as a source of energy, but in the case of electric vehicles, obviously the necessary amount is much higher. It is what has caused global production to quadruplica between 2010 and 2022. And that 2022 already said that We were going to need more lithium of which, probably, have the planet.

Ok, then we recycle. The problem is that … well, there are not few problems. Recycle a battery (this applies to anyone, but intensifies with the huge batteries of cars) is that it takes a long time to perform the process. You have to download it completely before you can handle them safely and, once done that, there are two consolidated methods:

• Hydrometallurgy: By acids, metals dissolve in a process known as leaching. We can obtain both lithium and nickel/cobalt and it is estimated that 99% of them are suitable for new batteries.
• Pyometallurgy: By ovens at 1,500 degrees Celsius, the components are melted and cobalt, nickel and copper are separated, on the one hand, and the rest of the components (aluminum, lithium and manganese) on the other. To recover lithium, after pyrometallurgy you have to do a hydrometallurgy process.

The inconveniences are clear: in the case of hydrometallurgy, the use of acids is very polluting and liquid waste must be managed. In addition, it takes a long time to break down and separate the elements. In that of pyrometallurgy, although the process is faster, large amounts of CO2 occur that are emitted to the atmosphere and consume a lot of energy.

Glycina. It is necessary to find more sustainable alternatives, and that is where glycine comes into play. Researchers from the South Central University of Changsha, the University of Guizhou and the National Center for Advanced Materials Engineering of Advanced Energy Storage have found a way of recycling less pollutingly 99.9% of the battery materials.

In his studyexpose how glycinawhich is a non -essential amino acid found in proteins, can achieve an efficient recovery of 99.99% of lithium, 96.86% of nickel, 92.35% of copper and 90.59% of the manganese of batteries.

Turbohydrometallurgy. Researchers detail that the key is to create an atmosphere of soft leaching. Changing ‘hard’ acids that are commonly used in battery recycling for neutral pH solutions with glycine allows the materials of the old battery to decompose and subsequently recover the elements that interest in the face of their recycling in new equipment.

As they point from Motorpasionby contacting the batteries used with an iron salt solution, sodium oxalate and liquid glycine, an iron layer is formed on them that plays the anode paper, while the battery material that is recycled works as a cathode. This chemical provides a process that breaks down the battery structure, facilitating the independent dissolution of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. In addition, the team ensures that it is a quick process: just 15 minutes.

Recycle vs mining. From the study they affirm that it is a cheaper process, more energy efficient and with less emissions than the traditional methods of hydrometallurgy that use acid or ammonia, but of course, it is something that has been tested in the laboratory and that would have to be seen in a real scenario. What is clear is that recycling seems the key to advancing in that automotive electrification without resorting to an increase in the Exploitation of lithium mines.

A few weeks ago, researchers at Stanford University published a study in which they compared the benefits of lithium -ion batteries recycling in the face of the extraction of new materials. In summary:

• It is emitted between 58% and 81% less greenhouse gases.
• It is used between 72% and 88% less water.
• It is used between 77 and 89% less energy.
• Less soot and sulfur is also emitted.

We are in it. These results are the result of a method patented by university researchers. It is like pyrometallurgy, but selectively, so the temperature is lower and emissions, therefore, they are also. Whether with the Standford method or with that of glycine devised by Chinese researchers, the world is in that race for the recycling of electric vehicle batteries.

Princeton University are investigating the low temperature plasma to replace the traditional methods of pyrometallurgy; There are already companies that have BMW or Mercedes contracts with the objective of recycling car batteries and also methods that use the microwave radiation To separate the components: up to 87% of the lithium of a battery in 15 minutes.

It is evident that, just as there is a career for electrification, it is also actively investigated how to reuse batteries that no longer serve for new cars, but that can be used in the manufacture of others. At least while we wait those of solid state…

Images | Tennen-Gas

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