
Amid a demand for batteries, companies are scrambling for supplies of lithium - edward
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21688386-amid-surge-demand-rechargeable-batteries-companies-are-scrambling-supplies
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ChuckMcM
I love this jewel -- _" a Canadian firm, said it had signed a conditional
agreement to supply Tesla with lithium hydroxide from a mine that it plans to
develop in northern Mexico. Bacanora’s shares jumped on the news—though
analysts noted that shipping fine white powder across the United States border
would need careful handling."_

Careful handling indeed. One interesting thing is that the clays that cover
the Black Rock desert (the site of the Burning Man Festival) also contain
lithium salts. So perhaps one year the theme could be "recharge your life" and
every camp could evaporate off a bit of lithium chloride :-). Although its
more likely that if demand gets great enough that companies will petition the
BLM for mining rights.

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mmanfrin
BM will shift from meaning Burning Man to Battery Mine.

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mey
Split the difference and call it Battery Man or Burning Mine? Where the
festival is also a forced labor camp?

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chiph
We prefer the term "crowdsourced"

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jseliger
I'm curious about whether LI batteries can be recycled. This paper:
[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993714...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993714000037)
appears to argue that it's technically possible but not really being done at
the moment. Does anyone here work in this area? Is the paper cited correct?

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Cthulhu_
I'm sure it can be done if the lithium doesn't evaporate, but the question is
whether it's cost-effective, compared to just getting new lithium. It's not
like there's just bars of the stuff to be found in old batteries, like with
traditional lead batteries.

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LordKano
I wonder if more toxic chemicals are necessary to recycle or to initially
refine it.

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maxerickson
Energy used and emissions are more interesting than the process chemistry.

The paper linked above mentions that some sulfuric acid recovered from lead-
acid batteries ends up as an input in soap making. Sulfuric acid surely passes
the bar for being a toxic chemical, but it isn't a big deal if it isn't
released in that form.

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Overtonwindow
Something I really like about lithium is how recyclable it is. I read some
time ago that lithium batteries do not "die" the same was as other batteries.
The shortening of lifespan for these batteries is not about the lithium
wearing out, but rather the oxidation of the leads and terminals inside the
battery. Thus lithium can be recycled for a long, long time.

Any chem engineers out there able to confirm?

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bluedino
Does medical lithium end up in our water supplies, from people taking it as
medication? Is it possible to extract it from that water?

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theandrewbailey
It probably does, like a lot of widely used medication. But if it's not
economical to extract lithium from batteries significantly made of it, it's
certainly not economical to get it from waste water.

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kazinator
A vast trove of unused lithium can be obtained from Hillary Clinton's bathroom
cabinet.

