Will environmental issues restrict the development of lithium batteries?

Lithium is a key component of energy storage. With the development of the electric vehicle industry and battery energy storage technology increasingly mature in recent years, demand has skyrocketed and output has also expanded. Although the power lithium-ion battery industry is gradually getting on the right track, it has brought more positive significance, but it also faces environmental protection problems: if lithium resources are not handled properly in the process of mining and utilization, it will have a negative impact on the ecological environment. So, will this problem in turn restrict the development of lithium batteries? Lithium resource market is rising Lithium batteries, as an important part of global clean energy, are being used by more and more companies to process electric vehicles in recent years. Kane Energy Research Consultants has analyzed that the annual output of the lithium-ion industry is expected to rise from 100 MWh in 2017 to nearly 800 MWh in 2027. A few days ago, another foreign media predicted that the demand for lithium is expected to increase to 1.3 million metric tons by 2025, which will be more than five times the current level. In China, the reporter knows that my country’s total lithium battery shipments in 2018 were 102GWh, an increase of 27% year-on-year, of which power lithium-ion battery shipments accounted for 63.7%, which is continuing to increase. From the perspective of the development trend, lithium batteries have become an important rising point for electrochemical energy storage, accounting for 75% of the scale of chemical energy storage. On the one hand, driven by the rapid development of new energy vehicles, lithium battery materials and system technology are rapidly upgraded; on the other hand, the rapid decline in the cost of lithium iron phosphate batteries also makes it possible for large-scale commercial supply of lithium batteries in the energy storage market. The recent research report released by the Institute of Lithium Battery Research Institute of Advanced Industry Research shows that the large-scale application of lithium batteries in the energy storage market has shown an irreversible trend. It is expected that in the next 1-2 years, it is expected to be driven by national policy guidelines and further reductions in lithium battery energy storage costs , The energy storage market, especially the grid side energy storage will usher in a rapid rise. Both mining and recycling are likely to cause environmental pollution. However, the rising market for the lithium battery industry cannot conceal the drawbacks brought about by the use of lithium resources. As far as mining is concerned, both brine mining and hard rock mining will damage the environment to varying degrees. It is known that the proportion of brine mining for lithium resources in my country is more than 70%, which is the most important means for mining lithium resources in my country. This is a method in which mineral-rich salt water is pumped out of the surface by drilling holes in the saline-alkali ground, then the mineral water is repeatedly distilled and filtered to obtain solids, and finally lithium carbonate is extracted from the mixture. This method not only consumes huge amounts of water resources, but also the toxic substances that appear in the process of evaporation and filtration can easily cause adverse effects on waters and land. On the other hand, the recycling of lithium batteries located downstream in the industrial chain is also prone to environmental pollution due to improper handling. According to relevant information, waste lithium batteries contain a large amount of heavy metal elements such as manganese, cobalt, and nickel. At the same time, the electrolyte also contains highly toxic substances such as lithium hexafluorophosphate and other volatile organic compounds. If these substances are not available Proper disposal will not only cause a waste of resources, but also cause huge pollution to the environment. Used power lithium batteries are not completely depleted of'energy'. They still contain high voltages ranging from 300V to 1000V. If they are improperly operated during recycling, dismantling, and treatment, they may cause fire and explosion, heavy metal pollution, organic emissions, etc. Multiple problems. Said Cao Hongbin, a researcher at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Disclaimer: Some pictures and content of articles published on this site are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete. Previous: Is UPS a battery?