Scientists have experimented with many types of materials in hopes of making EV batteries, their storage, and their recycling more efficient. One of the latest breakthroughs, developed by a team from Linnaeus University in Sweden and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in India, is derived from perhaps the most unexpected substance yet: urine.
The new method, which the scientists described in a study published in the scientific journal ACS Omega, summarized by Anthropocene, can be used during the battery recycling process to extract valuable metals used in lithium-ion batteries. It uses a liquid solvent derived from urine and acetic acid, the main ingredient in vinegar.
The scientists say that it is able to recover a whopping 97% of cobalt from a battery, all while relying on harmless chemicals and much less energy than current processes.
"The combination of readily available and relatively harmless substances and high energy efficacy gives our method potential to work for large-scale extraction," said Ian Nicholls, a professor at Linnaeus University, in a press release. "With more efficient and environmentally friendly methods, we can reuse a very significant portion of the cobalt that is already in use, instead of mining."
The scientists did not say where they sourced the urine used for the experiment.
As electric vehicles climb in popularity, the batteries that they run on have become something of a hot-button issue. While EVs cause much less pollution than their traditional gas-powered counterparts, their batteries do come with a host of downsides — lithium-ion batteries, the industry standard, rely on the mining of materials like lithium, cobalt, and copper, which causes immense environmental degradation.
For that reason, it is crucial for the EV industry and for our planet that efficient processes for recycling these batteries are developed. The EV battery recycling industry is still in the early stages, but it is advancing quickly — and more scientific breakthroughs like this one that streamlines the process bode well for its future.
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