Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have a wide range of applications from electronic products to electric mobility and space exploration rovers. This results in an increase in the demand for LIBs, driven primarily by the growth in the number of electric vehicles (EVs). This growing demand will eventually lead to large amounts of waste LIBs dumped into landfills which can cause serious environmental problems. To reduce this environmental impact, the need for efficient recycling technology emerges. Furthermore, it has been proven that recycling waste LIBs consume less material and energy than producing new ones from virgin materials. Therefore, this paper aims to review different recycling technologies including hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, direct recycling, and precise separation. The review concludes that hydrometallurgy might be the most efficient method of recycling waste LIBs on an industrial scale.
1 June 2021 in Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering
• The fundamentals and advantages of SSF focusing on its sustainable application. • Agricultural and industrial waste as substrate. • Factors influencing value added products through solid state fermentation, such as temperature, pH, moisture, substrate selection and supplements, particle size, and inoculum size. • Products of solid state fermentation may include Antibiotics, Enzymes, Organic acids, Bioremediation, Biosurfactants, and Biofertilizer. • Current limitations of SSF, and potential advancements for sustainable bioprocessing and product development.
Ion exchange membranes, specifically resin technology, lie at the heart of electrolytically conductive systems used in the treatment of wastewater. This chapter deals with ion exchange deionization and the effect of resin amount as well as the concentration of acid and base on the product conductivity. The strong acidic cation polymeric exchanger resin is commercially called MERCK 104765 cation exchanger IV with capacity greater than 3.2 mmol/ml, while the strong basic anion polymeric exchanger resin is commercially called MERCK 104767 anion exchanger III with capacities greater than 1.0 mmol/ml. Water conductivity, as an indicator of regeneration efficiency, was monitored over time at the different conditions and scenario. In general, it was observed that the conductivity decreases with time until one point is reached and then starts to increase as a result of resin saturation. It was also noticed that the lowest conductivity is achieved when using 1-vol% NaOH and 5-vol% HCl in the cathodic and anodic resin tubes, respectively, and that water conductivity increases with the increase in the amount of water being used. The amount of resin significantly impacts the deionization efficiency; more ions are removed as the amount of resin increases.