The magic of battery recycling as a strategy to address human rights abuse.

[NNadir]

Here's a swell paper I ran across tonight all about how we can address the human rights issues connected with our "aren't batteries wonderful" fad that despite leaving the planet in flames, remains popular: Separation of Magnesium Impurity from Nickel and Cobalt Mixtures Using Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid and Temperature Optimization Hongting Liu, Monu Malik, Kyoung Hun Choi, and Gisele Azimi Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2024 63 (13), 5542-5556

First some happy talk about how wonderfully the battery industry is growing, while the planet burns, clearing lots of land for solar and wind installations in the burned out areas:

The demand for these metals has surged sharply alongside the rapidly expanding global market for lithium-ion batteries, which grew from $36.7 billion in 2019 to an estimated $129.3 billion by 2027. (3) These metals are primarily used in the battery industry for creating transition-metal-based cathodes, such as LiNi_xMn_yCo_1–x–yO₂, LiNi_xy1–x–y2, and LiCoO₂, where their purity significantly influences lithium-ion battery performance.

However it seems like there may be a teeny, tiny, little problem with this, according to the paper:

Nickel-rich laterite ore, comprising about 70% of the world’s nickel reserves, is a crucial source of both nickel and cobalt. (4) In the largest reserves, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, cobalt is often extracted as a byproduct of copper mining. (5) The mining sector in DRC, particularly for cobalt, has been scrutinized due to significant human rights concerns. These issues provide a strong impetus for seeking alternative sources of cobalt. Key human rights issues include child labor, unsafe working conditions, exploitation and abuse, environmental degradation, and economic exploitation. These human rights and environmental issues have led to increased scrutiny from international organizations, governments, and consumers, driving the demand for ethically sourced cobalt. Companies in the technology and automotive sectors, which rely heavily on cobalt for lithium-ion batteries, are under particular pressure to ensure that their supply chains are free from human rights abuses...

My, my, my...you don't say?

How can we address this. RECYCLING!!!!!!!!

...This has spurred interest in finding alternative sources of cobalt, such as recycling existing cobalt-containing products, developing cobalt-free battery technologies, or sourcing cobalt from countries with stronger labor and environmental protections...

According to the first section excerpted, the battery industry that is designed, despite the second law of thermodynamics, to make the heretofore useless (if the goal is to slow climate change, which isn't happening - it's accelerating) and reliable solar and wind industry reliable, will have grown, by 352% in the "percent talk" that dominates the "solar and wind will save us" rhetoric about we all like to cite and chant. We can assume that, if battery life is 10 years - that some of the batteries manufactured in the $36.7B battery economy will still be operating and uncollected, and that all of the new batteries in the $127.9B will be in use for the next ten years, while the magic battery industry grows even more and more and more, as Buzz Lightyear used to say, "to infinity and beyond!"

Beyond infinity. Cool concept.

Don't worry, be happy. I'm sure that magic new mining areas will show up with oodles of cobalt ores in countries "with stronger labor and environmental protections..."

And of course, batteries will become cheaper and cheaper and cheaper as a result of these wonderful findings.

Sure thing.

And if some pesky areas of wilderness of extreme beauty are found over those areas in which oodles and oodles and oodles of cobalt and nickel are found, why I'm sure the "stronger environmental laws" will compensate for that as long as the mining companies promise that someday, long after the stock holders have withered away in their vast estates, the land will be "restored."

Happy, happy, happy.

Problem solved!

We are not going to mine our way out of climate change.

Have a wonderful weekend.