Lithium recovery and battery recycling.

[andu]

Hello there!

I wonder why his batteries aren't reacting, the few times i managed to puncture even by mistake a lithium battery i almost start a fire.
Also, feel free to post any idea or knowledge on this subject as i'm curious.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hello there!

I wonder why his batteries aren't reacting, the few times i managed to puncture even by mistake a lithium battery i almost start a fire.
Also, feel free to post any idea or knowledge on this subject as i'm curious.

That is the nature of these Youtube videos, they only show parts of what is going on and only the good parts.
But then again if you discharge a battery there is no energy left to give an reaction.
On the economical side, there is no way a small scale processor can reclaim this kind of material on a break even level.

 

[Lino1406]

New lithium batteries in the discharged state give no risk. On the other hand used batteries can have free lithium particles from over charging

 

[andu]

Not sure I trust charged batteries to be tossed in salty water for discharging.
This is perhaps one of the best examples out there .

 

[Yggdrasil]

Not sure I trust charged batteries to be tossed in salty water for discharging.
This is perhaps one of the best examples out there .

Nobody said anything about Salt water here before you mentioned it.
But on an industrial scale, the equipment for processing will most likely be designed to not require discharging.
Since that requires extra steps and takes time.

 

[andu]

I knew of this technique for a while, thing is that they selling lithium at a premium then not pay for it with the excuse that is dangerous, so no i'm not giving it to them for free and no I surely won't do it at an industrial scale.
I'm quite excited about cleaning up the pile of batteries i have tho .

 

[Darkthirty]

I knew of this technique for a while, thing is that they selling lithium at a premium then not pay for it with the excuse that is dangerous, so no i'm not giving it to them for free and no I surely won't do it at an industrial scale.
I'm quite excited about cleaning up the pile of batteries i have tho .

I would NOT take any advice from this guy. No actual statements tells you he's guessing and dangerous.

 

[andu]

It was an example, there are several folks that claim batteries can be discharged this way, I didn't know before that discharged batteries lithium won't ignite that heavily, it is still a huge risk.

 

[Darkthirty]

It was an example, there are several folks that claim batteries can be discharged this way, I didn't know before that discharged batteries lithium won't ignite that heavily, it is still a huge risk.

Are there any recoverable values in batteries?

 

[andu]

Besides lithium which isn't that abundant you got a tiny bit of copper, most of the weight is probably stainless or more hopefully nickel/cobalt.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Are there any recoverable values in batteries?

Not much if you don't prosess them in the hundreds of tons scale.

 

[patnor1011]

I dismantled couple thousands laptop batteries. They mostly contain 18650 cells (not in new built-in batteries). From my own experience, I can say that less than 10% cells are corroded, shorted, swelled (usually from water damage), majority of batteries only have one cell which is bad and rest is quite useable.
About third is with still good capacity usually used for power walls or repairing ebikes, scooters, etc... Rest can be "restarted" and still used in stuff like electric torch.

Not only recovery will make you money, reuse is also potential revenue stream.

 

[andu]

I dismantled couple thousands laptop batteries. They mostly contain 18650 cells (not in new built-in batteries). From my own experience, I can say that less than 10% cells are corroded, shorted, swelled (usually from water damage), majority of batteries only have one cell which is bad and rest is quite useable.
About third is with still good capacity usually used for power walls or repairing ebikes, scooters, etc... Rest can be "restarted" and still used in stuff like electric torch.

Not only recovery will make you money, reuse is also potential revenue stream.

Thing is, i don't trust any way i know to open them in a safe way then extract the lithium off to safely get the rest of the metals and separate them.
That and storing them with time is probably unsafe, atleast phone batteries are bound to eventually start growing in size.