The electric vehicle market is, as we already know, in continuous boom, however, something that worries the community is that, despite being a fairly ecological alternative, the creation and recycling of vehicle batteries is an enigma. What do you do when one of these batteries stops working?
Now, scientists from a team at Linnaeus University in Sweden and the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras in India, have used a method to recover precious metals from used batteries and its main ingredient is… urine! Something as everyday as urine could be the biggest revolution.
As we already know, batteries are made of materials such as lithium, cobalt and copper. These materials have a huge environmental impact when they are extracted. According to Ian Nicholls, if these materials could be reused instead of continuing to be extracted, the damage we are doing to the planet could be reduced.
What does this new method consist of?
This new method has been published in the scientific journal ACS Omega, and basically it is that the researchers have combined two very simple ingredients: urine and vinegar (or, more precisely, acetic acid). With this mixture, they managed to recover up to 97% of the cobalt in used batteries. In addition, the process requires less energy and uses less dangerous chemicals than current methods.
“Our method combines materials that are easy to obtain and safe, making it ideal for recycling batteries on a large scale,” explained Nicholls, “this allows us to recover a large part of the cobalt already used instead of continuing to extract it, which benefits the environment and reduces the impact of mining.”
Does this benefit the automotive industry and the environment?
We only have to consider that cobalt mining is linked to water pollution and the deforestation of many forests… If the heavier materials from batteries were recovered, we could “skip” this pollution process and protect our environment.
Could this breakthrough inspire other innovations?
Of course! This could be the opening for other scientists to investigate how other chemicals can be recycled using everyday materials and adapted to their production. This discovery of the use of urine shows us that we need to think beyond this to open paths towards a much cleaner future.
And now, what’s next?
Although this discovery is a big step, there is still a long way to go, and scientists need to continue researching this technique to improve it and adapt it to the demands of the automotive market. What is clear is that no one has let their guard down here and new ways of advancing technologically, but also of taking care of our planet, are still being investigated, because this planet is the only one we have and the only one we can leave as an inheritance.