LITHIUM - ION BATTERY - SCI & TECH
News: MeitY
transfers cost effective Li-ion battery recycling technology to nine recycling
industries and start-ups
What is in the news?
● Recently,
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) transferred cost
effective Li-ion battery recycling technology to nine recycling industries and
start-ups today as part of Mission LiFE under “Promote circularity campaign”.
Key takeaways from the news:
● The
novelty of the indigenously developed technology could process assorted types
of discarded Li-ion batteries, recovering more than 95 per cent Lithium (Li),
Cobalt (Co), Manganese (Mn) and Nickel (Ni) contents in the form of their
corresponding oxides/carbonates of about 98 percent purity.
● MeitY
has developed this technology under the “Centre
of Excellence on E-waste management” set up at Centre for Material for
Electronics Technology (C-MET), Hyderabad.
Lithium - Ion battery:
● A
battery is made up of an anode, cathode,
separator, electrolyte, and two current collectors (positive and negative).
● The
anode and cathode store the lithium.
● The
electrolyte carries positively charged
lithium ions from the anode to the cathode and vice versa through the separator.
● The
movement of the lithium ions creates
free electrons in the anode which creates a charge at the positive current
collector.
● The
electrical current then flows from the
current collector through a device being powered (cell phone, computer, etc.) to
the negative current collector. The separator blocks the flow of electrons
inside the battery.
● While
the battery is discharging and providing an electric current, the anode
releases lithium ions to the cathode, generating a flow of electrons from one
side to the other.
● When
plugging in the device, the opposite happens: Lithium ions are released by the
cathode and received by the anode.