Post #1745944
2026-04-14 16:13 UTC
"The process starts with old batteries being separated and burned to strip away non-metal components. What's left gets crushed into something called black mass. This is essentially a powder packed with recoverable metals. From there, a water-based chemical treatment called hydrometallurgy pulls the lithium out. One clever distinction in this new process is that the recovered lithium hydroxide actually replaces a chemical traditionally used during refining. This cuts the carbon footprint by about 40% compared to older methods."
Article also said that previous methods got about 45% of the lithium from recycling.
Replies (3)
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@renzhexiangjiao@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-04-14 16:16
seems like a significant breakthrough
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@prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-04-14 18:15
>black mass Pretty metal
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@ericatty@infosec.pub 2026-04-14 21:54
Dumb question... how are they burning them? I thought controlling lithium battery fires was difficult?