The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Recent studies pay off with major improvements in charging times and conductivity in solid-state lithium-sulfur battery technology. A flurry of scientific advances from Australia to California in recent months could soon propel lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries into direct competition with their lithium-ion cousins. Researchers at the University of Adelaide, Tianjin University in China, and the Australian Synchrotron recently reported results of a study that suggests the next...
First Tellurium's partnerships promise a safer solid-state technology ready to replace lithium-ion batteries, and a hardy thermoelectric generator. First Tellurium's strategic partners have made headway in the production of two exciting products – a safer lithium-tellurium battery manufactured in partnership with Fenix Advanced Materials and a new tellurium-based thermoelectric generator capable of withstanding temperature extremes while in operation. "This is another key a...
Lithium battery recycling firm details finances, operations, investments, and additional plans to overcome challenging financial landscape. Following the $75 million strategic investment from Glencore plc last week, which was aimed to alleviate some of the pressures the company is feeling due to the higher-cost environment, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. announced an update on its situation and plans to right-size its recycling enterprise going forward. "Since embarking on our...
Supports future recycling leader toward ongoing facility construction. Almost two years after its initial $200 million investment from Glencore plc, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has announced a new $75 million strategic investment from the Swiss commodities trading and mining company to help the recycling company continue to position itself as a future leader in the production of critical battery materials. "We are pleased to secure an additional $75 million investment from...
With the money, permits and resources locked in, US Strategic Metals has positioned itself as a desperately needed sustainable domestic battery metals platform Intent on repairing the widening gap representing a nonexistent American electric battery industry, US Strategic Metals (USSM) has transformed from humble beginnings as a mine site cleanup and reclamation business to a one-stop green battery metals platform taking the first steps toward a secure domestic closed-loop...
Stanford researchers identify low-cost method to extend the life of lithium-metal batteries and increase range of EVs by up to 600 miles. Electric vehicles may soon run on lithium-metal (Li-metal) batteries with ranges that could double the capacity of batteries currently used by EV manufacturers, according to a recent study completed by Stanford University researchers. The scientists published an article about their discovery, "Recovery of isolated lithium through discharged...
Global industry ramps up as VRFB appeals to grid renewables Solar and wind renewables can generate very cheap electricity, but like good weather, they're intermittent. To achieve a green-energy future of grids running off renewables, enormous amounts of battery storage will be needed to avoid blackouts. The first redox-flow batteries were developed by Lawrence Thaller and his group at NASA in the 1970s as potential energy storage for solar-powered deep-space missions. They...
In December, China implemented new export controls on graphite, further compounding trade tensions with the United States and other Western nations. This decision reinforces concerns over the fragility of the West's over-reliance on import monopolies and serves to intensify the ongoing search for alternative sources that would otherwise have been considered economically unattractive. Outside of its use in electric vehicle batteries, an application that is rocketing its...
As 2024 gets underway, the direction of rechargeable battery design continues to have major implications for the mining industry. A range of renewable power technologies are under development and expansion across the globe to replace fossil fuels. These advancements and the continued electric vehicle push driving the need for increased energy storage capacity, continue to add to the world's energy transition minerals shopping list. The numbers are already in – the new mines n...
Results in largest known reserves of lithium on Earth being deposited in volcanic caldera spanning Nevada-Oregon border. The remnants of an ancient volcano spanning the Nevada-Oregon border likely holds the world's largest accumulation of the lithium for the batteries needed for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, according to a scientific paper published by a trio of volcanologists and geologists. This roughly 25- by 30-mile basin known as the McDermitt Caldera...
In spite of the growing need for domestic supplies of critical battery materials to power zero-carbon energy technologies, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. announced a pause in construction of its planned Rochester recycling hub due to escalating costs the U.S. is presently facing. Established in Ontario, Canada, Li-Cycle has developed a method to safely and sustainably recycle spent lithium-ion batteries with its unique proprietary solvent extraction process that will be employed via...
Young scientists brings lifetime of passion, curiosity, hope to producing better materials for fusion energy. Spurred by next-generation thinking, innovative uses of composite metal-ceramic 3D printing in the field of nuclear may just be the "Eureka!" moment needed to unlock one of Man's greatest accomplishments – fusion. When Alexander O'Brien sent in his application for graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Nuclear Science and E...
The growing list of critical minerals and conflict elements like cobalt are drawing intense focus and demand for alternative sources. Investors and consumers are increasingly focused on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, provenance, and indirect emissions of these supply chains. If done right, prioritizing urban mining – specifically moving recycled materials upstream in supply chains – could provide cheaper domestic supply with a lower emissions foo...
As part of its Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, the Department of Energy announced the selection of eight projects to receive a combined $2 million to drive innovation in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation, recycling, and reuse for the future of clean energy. Administered through the ReCell Center at Argonne National Laboratory, AMMTO will form cooperative research and development agreements between national labs and industry partners to perform...
After announcing its plans for a recycling hub in Portovesme, Italy, through a partnership with Glencore, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has followed up with the steps needed to begin establishing a centralized locale for battery recycling in Europe's Bel Paese. "The planned Portovesme Hub is a landmark project for Europe's battery recycling industry and is expected to be the largest source of recycled battery-grade lithium on the continent," said Li-Cycle Executive Chair Tim...
To accelerate the commercialization of solid-state battery tech for EVs; redox flow batteries for grid-scale renewable energy storage. To speed the commercialization of emerging battery technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $11 million into solid-state batteries that promise to extend the range and reduce the fire risk of electric vehicles, and $5 million into flow batteries that can serve as a buffer between intermittent renewable power sources and...
Data Mine North launched the first edition of Critical Minerals Alliances in 2021 with the hopes that this annual magazine would play some small role in helping to build alliances "that are not crippled by irreconcilable differences between organizations and individuals that do not always see eye-to-eye but strengthened by a spectrum of ideologies with a common goal – a healthy, prosperous, and exciting future for humankind." Today, the alliances envisioned by the Data Mine N...
Lithium is an indispensable element in the clean energy transition for several key reasons; like all alkaline metals on the periodic table, it has one more electron than it strictly needs, and this tendency to shed electrons makes it well-suited for passing them back and forth between cathode and anode, charging and discharging thousands of times without degradation. Pure lithium does not occur in nature, but traces are found throughout nearly all igneous rocks, mineral...
While most leaders in the clean energy sector strongly indicate the concept of solid-state batteries is better, a few hurdles have long held this superior rechargeable battery in the realm of pacemakers and smartwatches, and out of electric vehicles where they are desperately needed. Solid-state technology replaces the liquid electrolyte in lithium batteries with a solid ceramic or polymer material. This increases energy density, stability, and heat resistance. For EV...
Separating your plastics, paper, metals, and food waste has generally been a personal choice throughout most of modern recycling history. However, current demand for resources predicts we won't have enough to support net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Hence, now is the best time for consumers to become educated and self-determined with their buying power, manufacturers to begin considering recycling as part of the initial design, and a new circular economy that resurrects a tr...
There is nearly a $1 trillion chasm between where the United States' lithium battery supply chain is today and where it needs to be by 2035 in order to build the envisioned green energy future where electric vehicles are charged with low-carbon energy. Roughly 40% of this investment will need to go toward ensuring there is a plentiful supply of cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, and other battery materials. Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and one of the...
In an effort to curb global warming, Purdue University researchers developed a cool solution – paint. But not just any paint, with what they believe to be the closest opposite of the blackest black, this ultra-white paint can not only repel heat but cool down the interior of the surface it is painted on. In September 2021, the Purdue team created an ultra-white paint that earned the Guinness World Record for an unintended side effect to reducing global warming, creating the w...
Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., a rising star of lithium-ion battery recycling in the United States, has signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and explore battery recycling solutions for EVE Energy Co., Ltd., a China-based global lithium battery company. "We are excited to collaborate with EVE, a proven global leader in lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing, to provide a sustainable resource recovery solution for lithium-ion battery products and manufacturing scrap,"...
Accompanying the plethora of VIPs to its battery recycling facilities in recent months, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. was visited by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for a tour of its plant in Gilbert, Arizona. Her visit to this lithium-ion battery recycling plant in the Grand Canyon State follows similar tours by U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly of this Li-Cycle spoke facility expected to play a key role in building a clean energy future in North...
Researchers from the University of Oxford have figured out how lithium solid-state batteries fail, an advance that could lead to the development of more efficient batteries for electric vehicles and aviation. Scientists at the Faraday Institution in Oxford's Departments of Materials, Chemistry, and Engineering Science used advanced imaging techniques to determine the causes of failure in Li-SSBs, according to a study described in the June 7 edition of Nature. Unlike...
