- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
You must log in or register to comment.
A recent report from Stanford University in the US, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that recycling lithium-ion batteries is far more environmentally friendly than mining for new materials.
Huh, who knew
You can get lithium from the pharmacy if you act crazy enough. Farm fresh lithium too, not some old phone battery lithium.
You don’t just suck on your old batteries?
Fucking spoiled rich kids and their pharmacy grade lithium…I prefer 9-Volt. It’s shockingly good.
This shows how one company (li-cycle) that claims they recycle 95% of the lithium does it: https://youtu.be/s2xrarUWVRQ
99.99% doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
When refining a process, it becomes exponentially more difficult and expensive the closer you get to 100% efficiency. 0-95% costs less than 95-99%, which costs less than 99%-99.99%
Unless you find/invent a new procedure that’s way more efficient instead of doing more cycles of known procedures.
nice
deleted by creator
It’s probably not cheaper than just shooting orphans for sport.
deleted by creator
You don’t need to shoot them with a gun. Bow and arrows allows for more skill expression and are renewable alternatives. Not to mention that it is a great workout routine.
You can also reuse the arrows.
Some need to be discarded and some will be used for the trophy case, but overall a very green and humane hobby.
Because externalities of lithium extraction like using aquifers for evaporation ponds and the pollution from the leftover brine aren’t included in the cost of new lithium production, thus making less environmentally impactful methods of recovery too expensive to justify.
deleted by creator
Note that this is not a catch with this recycling process (necessarily, anyway; the article doesn’t get into too many specifics) but rather an end-run to make lithium mining and refining appear less awful than it actually is.
Mining new lithium may be “cheaper” in raw dollars and cents provided only you don’t include the environmental impact or the costs of dealing with the same as a line item on the invoice.
