1:48 That Nokia battery is gonna jam that machine.

@shawnh4528

29 күн бұрын

Ah, the Nokia jokes never gets old 😂

@TheExtraterrestrial99

12 күн бұрын

Jam?? It gonna destroy that machine....

@keeneddie1999

9 күн бұрын

@@shawnh4528 Yeah and those jokes last forever.

Very neat! More of these please.

@stellviahohenheim

8 ай бұрын

ev propaganda

@Fexiven

8 ай бұрын

No comments? Let me fix this

@RyanMercer

8 ай бұрын

@@Fexiven 🤘

@adriangpop

8 ай бұрын

Yes please, more!

@X862go

8 ай бұрын

Agreed 👍

I'd love to see a comparison in costs between the recycled metals and the freshly mined ones. I'd also like to see how the black mass is being processed. Generally, separating metals like this requires a lot of energy or additional chemicals.

@khuo0219

5 ай бұрын

I wonder why that processing facility is in NY rather than AZ, think about the potential for solar.

@robertball3578

5 ай бұрын

​@@khuo0219we are sacrificing farm land in AZ to build solar farms. While AZ gets lots of sun, the output from solar panels drops with increasing temperatures, generally cutting off at 122*F. Dark colored materials are too hot to touch for much of the AZ summer, for most people that is 126-132*F. Note that's above the practical limit got photovoltaic panels.

@AlbertLebel

5 ай бұрын

But how much work and energy goes into getting gas from the ground into our gas tanks ?

@danielhalachev4714

4 ай бұрын

@@AlbertLebel I simply requested additional information. The fact you're leading the conversation into the defense of EVs, which is marginally related to the original topic, shows insecurity about it, doesn't it? I don't exactly know how much work and energy is required to pump gas from the ground, but it's significantly less anyways, because petrol extraction is largely automated (it requires only maintenance personnel) and although it uses energy to boil down the ingredients, all ingredients are used and some of them, like asphalt, don't have a replacement yet. Therefore, we would have to continue extracting fuel even if we fully transitioned to electric cars anyway. The inefficiencies of gas cars and the environmental damage occur at the stage of burning the fossil fuels, not at the stage of extraction.

@AlbertLebel

4 ай бұрын

Damn, say all that again but 3 times really fast. 🙄

This process is interesting, but I'd really be interested in seeing what chemical separation processes they use to clean up and recycle the black mass, including effluent treatment and POG scrubbing tech, as well as the handling of waste such as filter cakes an the like. That's where the real magic happens.

@qingxuanyue

2 ай бұрын

its leaching or smelting

@wck

15 күн бұрын

Yep. It's pretty misleading to call the process in this video recycling. This is just the dismantling process.

This was awesome, props for answering so many of the questions surrounding this in a facility that’s actually doing it!

@JerryRigEverything

8 ай бұрын

It was way cool seeing it happen in real life!

@Eduardo_Espinoza

8 ай бұрын

It also looks like they also have the answer to making batteries inert to handle :)

@youxkio

8 ай бұрын

Hello Jerry@@JerryRigEverything I shared your video on LinkedIn. Do you have a commercial account there?

@alexunruh

8 ай бұрын

This is pretty awesome, but is it economically feasible?

@johanneshartman4618

8 ай бұрын

Jesus said, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God (God's family) unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again” (John 3:5-7). what does this mean? Well you have to believe with your whole heart that JESUS died for your sins and after 3 days and nighrs GOD raised HIM from the death, so you can be baptized and after being baptised ask GOD for the HOLY SPIRIT . WHO will guide you trough life!

Nice to see the batteries are not wasted! I was hoping to see an explosion when they ground the car battery! I assume there is still a ton of energy left in there. What stops it from blowing up? The proprietary liquid is doing magic?!

@JerryRigEverything

8 ай бұрын

From what I understood the sheer volume of liquid acts as a big heat sync. Absorbing all the thermals from getting ground up. Plus - I don't think it's ever shorting accross the full 400v? Each cell is probably just shorting with itself for a very short amount of time. From the battery dropping in and getting completely shredded is like 90 seconds.

@andrive

8 ай бұрын

Electrobooom

@JohnSmith-pn2vl

8 ай бұрын

there is no such thing as an electroboom from batteries@@andrive

@lazerblazer528

8 ай бұрын

​@@JerryRigEverythingthat would make sense

@MikAnimal

8 ай бұрын

I would assume the liquid nitrogen is stopping those electrons from doing their thing (extreme cold limiting the migrating of the electrons) … there is not a chance for the electrons to transfer before it’s all ground down to a homogeneous mix. Sort of like your car battery on a cold day but cold enough to turn your Tesla battery to the shocking power of a couple AA’s lol

Yes, please. I want to see the rest of this process, into turning the black mass into batteries. I'm here from your short video, and you answered my question there. They dont discharge them first. They just spread them underwater, and that solves the high voltage, and disassembly time & danger issues. I love this, and this company.

This is very informative. I'm glad to see that so much of a battery can be recycled.

@PJM454

Ай бұрын

Nothing was recycled in this video. Only thing this video showed was mechanical separation and not even separation down to individual elements. Where is the recycled pigs of raw elemental components?

Started my career in an imaging consumables recycling plant. The ink and toner cartridges from spent printers and copiers get ground up in a very similar process to separate the plastics and metal types. Dropping off the spent cartridges at Staples and other similar storefronts was their method to acquire material as well and they called it a 'take-back program.' They also use a filter press to remove the toner powder from the water, but they called the resulting black bricks filter cakes instead of black mass. These are difficult processes and require a ton of R&D and trial and error to get right. Huge props to the people that worked hard to make this facility happen.

@boy638

8 ай бұрын

What do they do with the filter cakes after?

@wisdumb47

8 ай бұрын

@@boy638 In order to do this kind of business you have to be R2 certified, which puts a lot of limitations on what they are allowed to do with the material. There is also commitments to customers (in this case companies like Xerox, Ricoh, Canon, Sharp, etc.) to not send any recovered material to a landfill. It was a pioneering industry while I was there, so a lot of the solutions for toner cake were innovative and some plain failures. Two notable experiments we did with toner cake: 1) create a wood alternative by injection molding the material into board shapes. This worked to an extent. I actually used some of the boards to build raised garden beds in my back yard. The issue was that the sun destroyed them. Non-virgin resins and the sun typically don't mix well for long. 2) add toner cake to the substrate used to asphalt roads. This has huge promise in hotter climates where the roads don't get cold enough for the material to become brittle. Roadways are the most recycled material on Earth by percentage, and the toner actually improved longevity but only in hot climates. Most often, however, there was not a viable way to get rid of the cakes. It is hard to sell garbage. This resulted in a lot of the cakes being consolidated into gaylords and send to W2E (waste to energy) facilities to be burned as fuel to create electricity.

@JackieBright

8 ай бұрын

​@@boy638bake for 30 minutes at 360°, add frosting, enjoy

@Kevin-rf9sx

8 ай бұрын

@@boy638 what do you think? its a cake.. they eat it... duuuh

@dominiklukacs7677

8 ай бұрын

@@Kevin-rf9sx Why didn't I think of that

I just did a research essay last year on EV batteries, and Li-Cycle was a big company that came up. Awesome to see this video of their Arizona facility!

@sethk.

8 ай бұрын

Very nice, must've been an interesting topic to research!

@warrensteel9954

8 ай бұрын

And they started right here in Canada. We've been recycling batteries for over 30 years, but this process was by far a huge step in sustainability.

@tekiwi

8 ай бұрын

A really excellent subject to research is the amount of electricity that is now being used to keep at this supposedly sustainable tech running. Highly recommend looking into it as your generation need to know what's a head of you!!

@deere7227

8 ай бұрын

​@@warrensteel9954sounds like you are an employee. My son is an accountant at Li-cycle TO.

@PJM454

Ай бұрын

Nothing was recycled in this video!!! Mechanical separation based on simple density of materials (gold panning effect) but no pigs were smelted of any basic element let alone whether they could be reused. Dig deeper if you truly are doing research into this before you praise them.

Amazing machines. Good work.

Great informative video. Very clean facility!

My biggest concern with what's shown is the lack of actual reuse of the material. Sure, the process to grind and loosely separate the materials is very cool, but that's a lot of those shipping bags in the background. Reminds me of the Australian REDCycle recycling scandal where they collected all the stuff to recycle and just warehoused it instead. If you can get an invite to show us them processing that material that would be fantastic.

@DanKuches

8 ай бұрын

YES! And, what grade battery can be made from the recycled batteries? How many times can it be recycled, i.e., a recycled battery back to the Arizona plant, again and again?

@eddiefalcon8316

8 ай бұрын

This all looks very nice but I would feel more confident if there was some sort of peer reviewed data or equivalent that can verify these claims. I hope this process is as as clean as the video makes it seem 🤞

@j_laskada

8 ай бұрын

Agreed! I would like to see what can you make with those bags

@albertmaneri8224

8 ай бұрын

​@@e.j.schoute1987per the video, the water is in a closed loop system. It doesn't leave the the recycling plant. Now an accidental spill is a valid concern but that would be the same with any industry.

@WJCTechyman

8 ай бұрын

I still laugh that he says zero emissions, and I know that's not true. Emissions were a byproduct of making that facility, emissions are a byproduct of shipping these batteries to this place, and emissions are a byproduct of the generating stations powering these facilities.

It has to be a long way from the black mass to whatever goes into a battery. It would be more interesting to see the chemistry and mechanical processes required to accomplish that task.

@mrwess1927

8 ай бұрын

Next week on, utv

@stevenhawker4984

8 ай бұрын

Exactly. This program failed to provide any details except for crush it up,separate and shove it in a bag.

@himdabo

8 ай бұрын

This is where they keep the secret of vast amounts of sulfuric acid needed to separate the metals from the “black mass” material. Currently, sulfur is harvested cheaply as a byproduct of the crude oil refining process. But as oil production is set to decrease in the future, the availability of sulfur declines sharply, sending the costs of batteries skyrocketing.

@0PsychosisMedia0

8 ай бұрын

​@himdabo oil production will never go away. Slightly decrease, probably. Remember all those plastics we use and not to mention gas/diesel vehicles are still the go to for mining thoes precious metals the batteries needs. You can't recycle 100% of a battery.

@warrensteel9954

8 ай бұрын

@@stevenhawker4984 that facility is currently under construction. Until then it's just sold to battery manufacturers.

You answered so many of my questions, thanks!

Good video missing one important detail. What is the cost to produce 1kg of Lithium, copper, cobalt, etc from recycled materials vs making them from ores?

This honestly makes me feel better about our recycling process. Props to everyone that made this happen.

@ytnsm

8 ай бұрын

Ok, but for new batteries, the enviromental and social impact of lithium extraction stills being huge

@amoeb81

8 ай бұрын

It is worth talking about cobalt mining as well. Congo

@djdusted6485

8 ай бұрын

This is just a fraction of the batteries we produce. Its not enough. Like our normal recycling, it's not enough and they monopolised it.

@therealpeter2267

8 ай бұрын

​​@@djdusted6485Pretty sure the main problem is most people just throw these into common trash and that is not recycled or sorted, so people need to be given an incentive to put these in the correct place, and maybe even sort and recycle common trash

@djdusted6485

8 ай бұрын

@therealpeter2267 a lot of recycling that has been put in the correct boxes and taken away by the correct truck will not get recycled. They ship it to a different country where it goes in to landfill. There is many documentaries about it.

Awesome video! I’ve been to the current Rochester facility (not the one under construction) and was blown away. Really awesome stuff.

@UTKETCHUP

8 ай бұрын

Hey Undecided MF

@jeremyfk

8 ай бұрын

Great to see more people like yourself Matt dispelling the FUD around lithium batteries.

@drew_echo

8 ай бұрын

How does someone tour one of these facilities? Do you just call up "Hey, I'd like to tour and record your facility"? Does the facility reach out to you for publicity? Do they have regular tours that anyone can pay for?

@jonathanwieringa8808

8 ай бұрын

@@jeremyfk The FUD master matt farrel or whatever himself. The guy with no real knowledge of batteries, only psudo science. take everything with grains of salt

@ailivac

8 ай бұрын

I had no idea they were in Rochester... looks like they're using some of the old Kodak Park buildings.

Brilliant and so good to see, thanks !

Thanks for letting us know about the local battery drop off locations. I have been holding onto batteries that I don't want to put into the regular garbage or recycling.

I loved how at 2:25 Zack said: "It's getting kinda loud but you can see them f̵l̵o̶w̸i̵n̶g̵ ̷t̶h̶r̷o̸u̷g̸h̶ ḧ̵̢e̶͔̒r̴̪̈́e̵̡͂, d̶̳͑o̶͍̔w̶̺͗ń̷̝ t̵̫̉̽ǒ̷̝̎ ̴̢͇̈͆ä̵͜ ̶̓͜͜s̶͔̖͘t̷̮̝̿̆r̶̗̀e̵̳̞̎a̷̝̹̾͝m̷͚̄, w̷̧̮̣̘̙̍̃̽̈́̔̈̅̄ͅh̵̜͐̓̐̓͌e̶̲̻͊͛̋r̶̲̘̪̬͂e̸̪̓̓̽͊̏̇̒͑ ̴̘̈t̷̨̩̳͍̯̙͊̈͆͝h̸̪̚̚e̸̥̹͚̋̓̐̏̄̚̚͜͠ ̶̳͍̭͍͎̪̋̅́͒p̷̢̙̳̠̈́͜l̷̡̲̭̒̆̾̂̈́ḁ̸͈̬̋́̈́s̴̜̱͔͉̣͇͍̯̐̒̀́͘͝ẗ̴̢̤͎̬̣̯̲́̿͒̿̆̀̒ͅį̵͙͖̈́͆̾̆̀c̶̡̠̝̯̅̓̑́̈́ș̶̰̓̀̒͂͠ ĝ̸̹̭̀̂̄̈̑̂̏͗̅́̃̄̈́ȅ̵̯̪̜̮̤̣̪͍͊́̑͛̿̓̈̌͘͝t̸͇́͑͐̀͐̓̆̅̎̑̓̄̕͝ ̷̩̻̬̠̦͓̫̃̓̉͑̐̏͌̓͒̌͆̍͐̈́̀͛̚ͅv̵̛͍̭̤͙̳̎́͊͘͝í̴̢̠̗̜̟̹͇̰͉͙̬͙̇̈́͗̓̋͊̽́̄́̏̏̓̏̃̆b̷̡̨̺̹̬̀̾̀̒̕͠r̵̖̤̜͍̩̠̘̣̅̑̀͛͐̾̈́̔̔͘ą̶̨̟̩͇̰̲̙̗̪̩̖̜̞͂t̴͇̥͚̩̱̱͔̠̗̱̼̜͗́̑̍̆̈́͒͗̍͋͐̇̇̀͜͝ẽ̴̡̧̨̞͍̜͕̱̰͎̞̬̝̱̐̔d̸̢̦̻̦̱̥̞̘͕͔̳͋͒͗̉̀͂̏̋̒͌̍̚͝͠ ̷̧̡͈̭̠̣̐͝ů̶̡̡̞̙̭̮̟͇̭̖̙͙̩̗͙̖̰͠ṕ̶̫̹͈̹͚̗͙̯̥͖͉̂̎̌̎̾̅̈́̑̒̒͒́͜ͅͅ"

I reckon a follow up to show where the materials go and what they're used for. How they get further processed is going to be the game changer here.

@thatguythatdoesstuff5899

8 ай бұрын

I second this. All the materials they got out of batteries in the video need further processing.

@JackThelRipper

8 ай бұрын

That’s what I wanna see, my guess is they chemically break down the lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Then separate them individually thru some sort of filtering process or a reverse chemical induction process. Kinda like watching those guys liquify gold off circuit boards to a pure liquid state and then re-constitute them to a hard metal state. Nerd stuff all the way around that I wanna know about and pester my wife with lol!

@unxusr

8 ай бұрын

@@thatguythatdoesstuff5899why don’t you do the video? Every material requires processing.

@thatguythatdoesstuff5899

8 ай бұрын

@@unxusr Zack is more suited for making that video. It'd be nice if he had a full series on battery recycling showing the full process from old battery to new battery. This video shows just the first stage.

@roberts.wilson1848

8 ай бұрын

@@thatguythatdoesstuff5899 This video shows just the first stage IF the battery is recycled...because most of the times batteries are being used in EV conversions and home power walls for offgrid energy independence by people wit solar arrays. This process will be of use in like 10-20 years from now when batteries from early tesla may be sent to this process, after many of the EV conversions themselves will see an end of life.

I'd like to see some number on the actual prices of batteries that come form this process. I'd also like to see the performance of these products, compared to traditional manufacturing process.

@andrewm8703

4 ай бұрын

They are returned to their original elements. There is no change in ability to hold a charge.

@robertkubrick3738

3 ай бұрын

You can't buy a new replacement battery anyway, the best you can do is get a refurb made from cobbling together two already Failed packs.

@andrewm8703

3 ай бұрын

@@robertkubrick3738 yes you can. Do some research please

@calcolson2813

Ай бұрын

I have a small business of fixing up broken power tool batteries. I recycle the left over cell and related products. My question is this How could I get ahold of some of those power tool battery packs?

Thank you nice to see how it all get recycled and add more resurance of sustainability of ev technology

Love it! I repair laptops for a big company and we send out a LOT of batteries to be recycled. Interesting to see the process. I shared it with my office.

@rogerstarkey5390

8 ай бұрын

Send the old PCBs as well!!

@leetween7232

8 ай бұрын

@@rogerstarkey5390 yeah we have an electronics recycler we work with too!

With batteries that are made up of a large number of cells, it is also possible to refurbish many heavily degraded batteries into a smaller number of less degraded battery cells by using the least degraded cells from multiple used batteries, allowing the still useful battery components to be used longer before being completely being turned back into raw materials. Nissan has plants that do this to get replacement batteries for existing Leafs.

@higherwireinc

8 ай бұрын

Yes it is, though it isn't widespread and not cost-effective for small consumer electronics packs. Most companies focus on prematurely recycling batteries well before they reach true end of life. Most EV packs, for example, are at about 80% state of health when they're removed from the car. Renewing them saves a significant amount of energy and carbon emissions vs. prematurely recycling. There are a dedicated few of us trying to address that inefficiency!

@wesley00042

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, I wish someone was disassembling and sorting out good cells from those EV packs. Even if they end up all bad, separating them from the tray and recycling it separately would save a ton of energy versus grinding up and separating the steel, aluminum and copper.

@AffordBindEquipment

8 ай бұрын

@@wesley00042 except for the intensive labor costs.

@JRotten

8 ай бұрын

There is a company in NC that does just this. RV and Yaght owners are their biggest customers. Relacing house lead acid batteries with rebuilt EV batteries.

@Adrian_kal

8 ай бұрын

It requires a lot of dangerous manual labor. Should be banned.

Awesome education! I always wondered where all the batteries i drop off at Lowes went👍

Thanks. Great video. What is the proprietary liquid, and is it reused or recycled?

You have not shown how they’re recycled, only how they are processed for shipping to a facility that does. Would be interesting to know how they separate the precious metals from each other and the percentage of usable materials.

@Roboprogs

7 ай бұрын

True, but at least they made stable nonflammable (albeit toxic) black goop so they can ship the lithium and partner elements. From there it’s probably treated much like the original ore. So the question is how does this factory’s output compare with the cost of raw ore?

@xxkwijiboxx

7 ай бұрын

when you mine ore you never hit a block of pure mineral, as for gold mine as example you get mines where you get about 2-3grams per tons of rocks. be that lithium mixed with whatever byproducts there is in the soup, they know what to add to separate and process it. i'd gladly watch the video for the next step!

@ReggieArford

7 ай бұрын

And the fraction of batteries recycled is?

@catnvol

7 ай бұрын

You are not supposed to ask reasonable questions, just accept the line he is giving you. You notice the actual transformation of the "goop" isn't on line yet. I suspect they ARE, however, getting taxpayer subsidies.@@Roboprogs

@chriswisneski6071

6 ай бұрын

​@@ReggieArfordAll of the ones that are actually turned in to be recycled. Can't recycle batteries people toss in the landfill...

Having lived in Rochester for five years, it's exciting to see that such a facility is being built there. Back in the day when businesses like Kodak and Xerox were booming, Rochester would have been hugely successful. Nowadays it's a shell of its former self, which is quite depressing. If it were to become a leader in lithium recovery, that could potentially bring some life back to the city!

@ncrawford1488

8 ай бұрын

Unions, Democrats, and the drumbeat of technology emptied your city. With all the regulations and taxes, I can’t understand why any new business- especially one that involves the EPA would invest there. Those tax incentive commercials NY state used to run always struck me as unusual- so you’re saying that you understand companies can’t be competitive with the laws you have???

@NikitaOsito

8 ай бұрын

I have no idea what sort of effect it may have, but it seems like a good thing.

@GabrielIsserlis

8 ай бұрын

I also lived there for 7 years and felt the same. Proud of my second city home leading the charge!

@AgentOrange96

8 ай бұрын

@@ncrawford1488 Rochester used to be a leader in technology. In fact that's why RIT is there, which is also why I spent five years there. I wouldn't blame technology for its downfall, but rather failure to keep up with it. While I personally despise both the left and the right, I currently actually live in Austin, which is very left leaning and technology driven and absolutely thriving. My best guess for what may make Rochester so appealing would be the availability of an eager workforce. Many people haven't actually left the city, but are struggling. Give them a solid opportunity and they'll take it. Otherwise, I'm not actually sure why Rochester. But I'm happy to see it happen.

@danielrosenberg5969

8 ай бұрын

​@ncrawford1488 Kodak went under for passing on digital photography and xerox is a shadow of its former self because well, when was the last time you used a copy machine? It is still a fortune 500 company though. Reflect on your argument and come back when you can make something better than political nonsense.

Awesome!! The materials guys, chemists & physicists who figure all this out are amazing! I’m a EE, we do amazing things in electronic design, fab, test & prod. But it’s our material guys, who figure out all the chemistry & solid state physics at the molecular and atomic level, who REALLY amaze me!!!

Of EV factoring importance; The plant's external energy usage breakdown per ton of the 'usable' debris would have been an interesting tidbit.

I definitely have some questions about the "black mass" especially considering the lack of any real information on how it is processed. Seems like the greater vast majority of it's contents would be toxic waste.

@thomasfx3190

7 ай бұрын

What makes you say that? It’s just lithium, gallium, nickel & cobalt. It’s like high school chemistry to sort those out because they all have different weights, densities & properties.

@jjay350

7 ай бұрын

@@thomasfx3190 There's a lot more material that goes into batteries, like plastics for example. Have fun trying to recycle all of that. The "black mass" is made up of waste byproduct that needs to be broken down to extract valuable material. There will be "toxic waste" as a result, material that cannot be reused or safely disposed of.

@professorlaiceps1

4 ай бұрын

That process would be kept secret considering it is the money maker. I wouldn't be surprised if it got thrown away for fresh materials. Government substitutes is where the real money is but that is just from a skeptical mind lol

@mellbenham6809

4 ай бұрын

You obviously know a lot about chemistry so please explain how the process works.

@mellbenham6809

4 ай бұрын

They haven't actually done it yet if it were easy there would be other companies already doing it that said what they won't tell you is it will take some rather toxic chemicals and a lot of electricity to separate the different elements out its also a risky operation as Lithium in its pure metal form is highly pyrophoric on contact with air and if it comes into contact with water it reacts violently and produces explosive Hydrogen gas.

What's interesting is that going from the NMC or LCO or whatever cathode material is in the battery (Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide or Lithium Cobalt Oxide) is actually the bigger challenge here. That black mass unfortunately cannot just be put directly back into a battery and has to first be turned back into it's initial base metals before being manufactured into new material, which is actually quite a technical and chemical challenge with traditional hydro or pyrometallurgical techniques. One project I worked on as part of my graduate degree in metallurgy was studying the reaction of this material at high temperature using just hydrogen gas in order to reduce all these metals back from their oxide form into their base metals form. I believe there are now some companies trying this on a pilot scale using that technique.

@RryhhbfrHhgdHhgd356

7 ай бұрын

Fascinating! I would have assumed it was refinable through traditional means (flesh eating acids and eldritch pressures and temperatures).

@christopheryllescas9935

6 ай бұрын

What about the water, how long is it used and what happens at the end of its life? Closed system but for how long?

@podunkman2709

6 ай бұрын

Only some really small % of batterries are recycled. Process is expensive and dangerous to environment. This the sad truth.

@RryhhbfrHhgdHhgd356

6 ай бұрын

@@podunkman2709 So’s mining. Mining is honestly probably worse too, cause it is usual open and outside, which makes controlling dust and waste water even harder. And fossil fuel extraction is *definitely* worse.

@theTayl0r

5 ай бұрын

Exactly why Li-Cycle is building a central facility for the separating and purification of those materials (in Rochester)

Thanks for the information

My local Lowe's used to have a recycle bins for rechargeable batteries but it's been gone for a long time now. I do take them to a county recycle center now.

I was literally just talking to my friends about how we can’t recycle EV batteries making the “environmental impact” basically pointless. Now I’ve eaten my words and will share this video with her later today lol.

@joecool4656

8 ай бұрын

It’s a new process. I said the same thing

@Lavafire1

8 ай бұрын

But I mean it’s great that you actually looked for it and learned it. You are willing to learn and even admit that you are wrong, a sign of great maturity

@FoolsGould

8 ай бұрын

@@Lavafire1 heehee thank you :)

@anthonypelchat

8 ай бұрын

Good on you. Also, a lot of EV and power tool batteries also end up in reuse centers where companies sort through decent ones to be used by the DIY community. I've built a few small things with some Model 3 cells. Others have done ICE to EV conversions and home storage solutions with EV battery modules.

@cheeseburger1752

8 ай бұрын

Being able to admit you're wrong in the face of new information is a good sign of intelligence and maturity

2:32 further processing = straight to the landfill

That’s a really cool way of showing how this material gets recycled and reused again especially when it’s being done in my home state and town I’ve lived in

@PJM454

Ай бұрын

Nothing was recycled. It was mechanically separated into conglomerates of elements with a promise of recycling in facilities that have not even been built. Watch it again and show me the smelted pigs of reusable materials. Smoke and mirrors.

Great reporting.. Thank You !!

What's the process to separate the metals (the mud)? Curious as to what type of waste comes from that.

@krashd

5 ай бұрын

They likely heat the black mass in a big pot and let the metals separate according to weight, heavier metals at the bottom and lighter metals at the top, then they just keep skimming off the top and depositing what they have skimmed into different containers as they go down and the metal changes.

Curious to know what the cost of those recycled materials are vs freshly mined equivalents

@francus7227

8 ай бұрын

You will stay curious for a very long time...... If it was positive, it would have been the key feature. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez????

@edman50

8 ай бұрын

It is very expensive still compared to mined Lithium. They are focusing on Battery logistics cutting down on shipping costs but the core technology unfortunately won't get much more profitable. Especially with chemestries such as LFP where iron and phosphate are impossible to hit profitability on.

@shaunryan6

7 ай бұрын

How much of this black mass actually ends up being used? Without this information this video is pointless. What percentage of the black mass is useless and where does it end up. Deliberately omitting this essential information is very suspicious.

@goldenhate6649

7 ай бұрын

So working in Environmental Regulation here. The main issue with these recycling centers is well, they are insanely toxic and a number operate illegally. If black mass gets into groundwater, its a disaster that costs millions to clean up. To answer where black mass ends up if not reused, it goes (well is supposed to go) to a permitted hazardous waste landfill. Unfortunately, the illegal takers of batteries its anyones guess where they put them.

@francus7227

7 ай бұрын

@@goldenhate6649 And there you have it folks..... If Goldenhate is as correct as he sounds, he just took a gigantic dump on this butterflies and unicorns video. Oooops. So sorry Goldenhate for using "he" when it could be "she/we/us/they/them/etc". But thanks for honesty. Food often tastes good going in, but not always. It ALWAYS smells bad coming out. Facts of life. It's a series of trade-offs that have risks, benefits and consequences. Everything.... personal health, economies, environments, relationships.... everything.

Nice video. I’d be curious to see how Lithium Carbonate, Nickel Sulfate and cobalt sulfate are refined into usable materials for new batteries.

Thank yo man. Keep going!

Wow. This is the first real vehicle battery recycling I’ve seen. Wonder how much power it takes for the entire process. That black mud still needs to be processed further in a different facility.

@tomtreimel7544

8 ай бұрын

Yes - wondering - what cost to do this. Where do they recycle the water / slurry. Plus when they remake into next battery - what is needed.... How good are the elements. Why did Musk not get this into his car build cycle.

@iancouper3644

8 ай бұрын

They get made into more batteries

@tomtreimel7544

8 ай бұрын

Yes. But what the degrade level.@@iancouper3644

@echochamber8350

8 ай бұрын

It's a scam. Lithium is not recyclable

@scatdog1

8 ай бұрын

Not to mention the slave labor to mine the lithium… and all the fossil fuel required to make the batteries, ship the batteries, and truck the batteries.

Totally sharing this with my grandma. She thinks that it’s impossible to recover anything from these batteries, and no matter how hard I tried to explain that there are absolutely ways to recover and recycle the material, she instincts it’s not.

@IPlayGames3

8 ай бұрын

Same thing with my uncle!

@JerryRigEverything

8 ай бұрын

Tell your grandma hi for me!

@zigadabooga

8 ай бұрын

Same thing with my sister. Honestly this communication is a problem with otherwise progressive people just not accepting it.

@AWildBard

8 ай бұрын

@@zigadabooga Maybe it's because we've been hearing that plastics recycling isn't really happening even though most of us do try to at least separate our trash and throw it in recycling bins. I don't think we should succumb to doom and gloom, but there is a lot of improvement that needs to be made. Cynicism is not without justification.

@zigadabooga

8 ай бұрын

@@AWildBard it shouldn't be surprising that complex oil products aren't really recycled. But a metal is a metal. If we can mine a metal, we can recycle it. Hopefully it's not too late, and people accept EVs.

More of this, please!!!

I saw the name on the building you toured. I thought it was a bicycle business. Now I know what it is. They are only 5 miles from my house. Thanks for the info.

We need more of these plants. Great video. I don't want these to end up in landfill

@DJ-lq9gp

8 ай бұрын

Obviously can't argue, but what % of batteries make it there?

@HvV8446

8 ай бұрын

@@DJ-lq9gpin that case its to the individual people to take responsibility, the infrastructure is there, its up to you and me to make sure that the batteries make it there. (Which is not difficult…)

@HvV8446

8 ай бұрын

@@lawngnome777 based on your profile pic: do you know how bad burning russian tanks and ammo is for the environment??? I'll bet that's worse than this plant not running on green energy.

@paulkerman8906

8 ай бұрын

@@DJ-lq9gp if you take lead-acid batteries as an example, near to 100%

@Tron-Jockey

8 ай бұрын

@@DJ-lq9gp - With EV batteries there's little doubt they'll be recycled especially now that auto salvage yards make money selling them to specialist firms that dismantle the packs and break them down into their different materials: wires, circuitry, plastics, and the metals including lithium, cobalt and nickel. John Voelcker's article in the June issue Car & Driver had one of the more comprehensive answers, Google: "Everything You Need to Know about EV Battery Disposal" - Car&Driver 6/10/2023 Even car dealers are now sending EV battery packs to recyclers. They're simply too valuable to throw away. But your correct, there's the feckless human element that needs to be considered. Hard to resist throwing smaller battery packs in the trash can. Similar issues with motor oil. What percentage of toxic used crankcase oil makes it to recyclers? We hear that its better than 95% but that means a lot of it still gets dumped. According to the EPA website over 200,000 million gallons of used motor oil still gets dumped every year, into streams, rivers, backyard pits, storm drains and landfills. Considering just how toxic used crankcase oil is and how readily even small amounts can contaminate huge amounts of ground water, how come we don't see the outpouring of concern or public outrage? Perspective is important.

2:38 - Further processing, meaning the landfill.

@3NC0D3

8 ай бұрын

hope not, but you might be right

Great vid. Power used to recycle versus potential power output of recycled material - is there some sort of meaningful balance?.

can you show us what they do with the first generation old wind turbine blades after change?

Showing people how separated waste (like batteries) are recycled will create more understanding and will result in more people bringing their batteries to a recycling point. So, share this video with everyone 🎉

You've always made great videos but this might be one of the best ones you've done in terms of importance. We've seen a lot of FUD spread over battery recycling or the lack of it. This video helps, a lot.

@JoshuaRes

8 ай бұрын

100%!! Was reading silly comments this morning that this video would refute.

@yincimaster8530

8 ай бұрын

While lithium is decently recyclable according to this video, and this facility is recycling batteries, it does not mean that all batteries (or even a good chunk) are recycled. This process is however very interesting. I wonder what the price of the finished product is, since the biggest reason for cooperations to _not_ recycle or _buy_ recycled materials is simply the cost.

@ereder1476

8 ай бұрын

Are they profitable though? Or litteraly being paid to do this by taxpayer?

@caseyelliott8794

8 ай бұрын

Profits and scaling up aside, it still has to better than the burning of gasoline/oil based products. Especially as the technology to do this evolves over time. Along with better battery technology hopefully too.

@ereder1476

8 ай бұрын

@@caseyelliott8794 oh but the burning still happend. What's the percentage coal, and other fossile and polluting fuel represent in electricity's production? Electric car being the future is a fallacy. Only public transportation and it's efficiency will lead to progress in that domain

awesome video Jerry ,thanks

We have two Rivians and an Ionic 5. This makes me feel better about the end of life of the batteries. I always heard they can’t be recycled. Great info.

My father in law is a scrap metal collector. I've lost count how many laptop battery packs he's gotten for me with working cells. I get floored how people don't look at the labels on batteries and notice how they indicate not to throw in the garbage.

So cool to see how it actually works!! Would love to see more content like this 🙌

some claims a maybe done in future. but not right now.😢 right now black mass is not being processed to extract the li or c content at smelters. but it is a start.

Recycle...Recycle... Recycle...lovey info. 💯

This is super cool to see and learn about

@TheOnlyName

8 ай бұрын

Why hello there Dan!

So I googled the cons of li-ion battery recycling. The term PYROMETALLURGY comes up. I believe that's when they ship the black mud to another plant and extract and separate the goo from the gold😮 They won't be talking about that poisonous process. That would be the video to make. I'd bet the battery recovery plant sponsored this video 😂

@MuhammadZeshan

8 ай бұрын

I don't think so that the video is sponsored, I am a very old subscriber here, and I've seen Zack mentioning sponsor if it is.

Thanks for showing us this process, I'm so glad its an efficient process and would love to see Australia invest in this industry too so I can go work there lol

A small remark: the quality of recycled lithium may not be sufficient for use in electric cars, Tesla cannot avoid also using newly mined lithium. Lithium extraction, however, remains a very environmentally unfriendly process in which relatively much damage is caused by water pollution and water consumption. The chemical processing of lithium also requires harmful chemicals that harm the environment.

@alien9279

Ай бұрын

This is still emerging tech. Give it time:)

Working in the recycling industry myself at the moment ... cool to see that there is progress in this field . Though ... this all depends where you life and how local authorities handle waste management . In many countries this is still not the case , but we slowly getting there . Let's see how it all turns out in the future ;-) same goes for solar panel and windturbine recycling .

@SyntheticSpy

8 ай бұрын

As the value of recycling batteries increases we will likely see much more of this. Since with batteries the recycled material is essentially a better form of what is mined, it is better to source the recycled material vs mined and refined material, so it should hopefully sort itself out just from a financial standpoint for big companies

@cg8469

8 ай бұрын

Something that becomes abundantly clear the older I get is that regulation/punishment for situations like this is almost never the answer. If you make it simple, quick, and easy to access, the majority of the population will take advantage of the solutions provided to them. For instance, I've lived in a couple places where waste disposal is an extremely difficult task unless you are a commercial/industrial level company. Minimum fees up to 2,000 lbs, stuff like that. Compare that to some of the most backwoods, redneck states I've lived in with distributed satellite transfer stations free for anyone to use, and it is unreal how little trash you see on the side of the road. Batteries, oil, and bulk items are the big ones. If you think someone who replaced 2 toilets is going to pay $50 minimum at a landfill to get rid of them...... I've got bad news. Those used items are gonna wind up in a ditch somewhere on the side of the road in the middle of the night.

@orangeflavoredmf

7 ай бұрын

@@SyntheticSpy What the hell are you talking about? Recycled materials are almost always lower grade and cost more than new stuff.

"No air pollution in the traditional sense." So there *IS* still air pollution, just not from burning things.

It makes me really happy to see efficient recycling facilities. I hope the world realizes how important this is. Rubber, valuable minerals, plastic. We need to do so much more. But this is such a good start.

Good to know. I work for a recycling place in CA and I Always wondered what happenes to the batteries. I'm curious why I didn't see any car batteries.

I love this. Im glad i saw it too, because I went to a battery recycling place not too long ago and they told me that I would have to pay $60 to recycle some cell phone batteries. This really discourages people from recycling so knowing you can just find one of these boxes somewhere and you can just drop them off and go is nice.

6:40 - “lithium batteries are thrown into landfills or not recycled” Most are not recycled… upwards of 95%, from recent studies. I am glad to see this occurring, other recycling plants are showing up in Georgia, as well as Arizona. The big question is… how does one drop off an 80+ lb EV battery modules for recycling? People are using them for home energy project today. If there is no place to drop them off, they will wind up in landfills.

@desertodavid

8 ай бұрын

@DavidHalko, what 80lb EV battery are you talkin about? EV car batteries weigh thousands of pounds! 1:00

@DavidHalko

8 ай бұрын

@@desertodavid - I like my LJ98-10C779-AE modules, they are serving me well, but at some point each module will need to be recycled. Put 16 in an EV, and you get over 1000 lbs. EV car batteries often come in modules, so each module can be assembled, like legos, into different configurations…. From cars to crossovers to SUV’s, to get economies of scale in manufacturing, not tied to specific manufacturers.

@desertodavid

8 ай бұрын

@@DavidHalko thanks for the info. However I will never own an electric vehicle simply because I don't want to appear hypocritical to the knowledge that the climate hysteria is a hoax.

@DavidHalko

8 ай бұрын

@@desertodavid - hey, I got the modules at 20 cents on the dollar, to make a battery backup system for my house. Technology is not bad, but people who try to mislead others are bad.

@user-jo2dh3xc5h

7 ай бұрын

Watch again. The factory is empty. 1 ev battery, 1 Nokia phone battery, 1 power drill. The factory who would use the black stuff is still being built. So now you probably understand. It's subsidies, your money.

Why recycling good thing and space cleanup should be easy with this helpful hint if put on a ship like the shuttle

Great video Jerry!

One of the most informative videos we have ever done Jerry! Lets keep it up!

Always wondered how they separated it all safely, Great informative video. Thank you

Great video on recycling Li ion batteries!

That's great to know. Awesome company.

Its amazing you make these videos for the general public. I would love to be in a job where I help people find information like this

THIS is the video we all did not realize we were hungry for. Seeing you pick up a handful of 'black gold' and squeeze it was deeply satisfying. Thank you 🙏

RIP. They just cancelled the Rochester location and are about to declare bankruptcy

Good work guys

Would be interesting to talk to what proportion of lithium waste is currently recycled, how that compares historically, and what projections are into the future. Also, is this method the only one used at an industrial scale or are there many options?

@bigglyguy8429

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, the proportion is the important bit

@j_laskada

8 ай бұрын

Agreed! Curious

@db7948

8 ай бұрын

I cant say for certain but I would imagine almost all ev batteries are recycled because of the residual value they have.. once they get to the plant they are more than 97% recyclable

@go9ro367

8 ай бұрын

There are many companies trying to stand up recycling facilities using a myriad of recycling approaches. Li-cycle was an early entrant and well-funded but its technology is unimpressive.

@Hl2manchcnz

8 ай бұрын

​@db7948 one would hope, however just because the ingredients are valuable doesn't mean there are sufficient companies with the technology to recycle them. Thus leaving a void to fill with such recycle companies.

Very clean well organized facility. Really like my EGO lithium 🔋 lawnmower and Craftsman lithium string trimmer, blower and hedge trimmer but not ready to go EV.

This sounds like turning lead into gold. If true then that’s fantastic. However, like all recycling programs the majority still ends up in land fills. Cost of batteries should drop fast unless this process cost more than mining raw material. That information was missing.

@Fenthule

4 ай бұрын

That's changing too. Waste Management recently reinvested TONS of money, iirc over 1bn in upgrading a number of their facilities (and the government gave them a huge chunk of cash to help make the upgrades more economical and quicker) that have done massive improvements to their recycling processes, allowing for much more pure materials to be sorted thanks to AI powered sorters doing like 98% of the heavy lifting and only needing a few employees (which never existed before, a lot of new jobs being made) to do a fine tooth sorting at the end. They're also making a new style of landfill that will be able to digest the waste in such a way that rather than burning the methane like they have been, they'll be able to capture it and use it for fuel, at first iirc they want to use it for their trucks and then with excess sell it. Also this process helps, but realistically the pace of batteries needed is outpacing what's being recycled so they still need to mine more even though this is profitable (and obviously it is, otherwise the company wouldn't be building a massive facility in Rochester)

Such a good video mate. Please keep the recycling videos coming. I am learning a lot 👍🏼

Here in Denmark, we have to travel quite a distance to dispose of our old batteries responsibly. Which is weird, cause we already have trash separation like, organics, paper, metal, glass, plastic and everything else. Strange we don't have one for batteries and lightbulbs for that matter. Those are usually located outside super markets.

@jonevansauthor

8 ай бұрын

As I said in a separate comment, battery sellers (supermarkets and electronics shops etc) all have to collect batteries for recycling in the UK. It's definitely a law worth passing and they're probably getting paid for the scrap value.

@georgehill3087

8 ай бұрын

Fire hazard.

@jonevansauthor

8 ай бұрын

@@georgehill3087 good point. Since the law was passed a decade or more ago, every single shop in the UK has burned down. Super dangerous.

@georgehill3087

8 ай бұрын

@@jonevansauthor I was talking about end users throwing batteries into their own categorized recycle bin to be picked up. Recycling those at specific locations can be managed by the stores.

@jonevansauthor

8 ай бұрын

@@georgehill3087 that makes more sense. Yes, you do need users to take them somewhere central because they shouldn't hang around for six years until you have enough to make it worth picking up.

Li-ion recycling is vital so it is encouraging to see that someone somewhere is doing it. But this video is only part of the story--what processing does the black matter need to extract the important bits out of it and what's the cost of that processing? Your next video, perhaps.

Nice to see that the Rochester facility has a conventional power plant nearby to help keep the lights on. Gonna need a lot of electricity to heat the place too when winter rolls around. Maybe they can use batteries.

I live in Gilbert, that plant is like 4 blocks away from me, cool! Didn't know about them! Also a funny connection, I moved to Gilbert from Rochester 10 years ago. But it's pretty cool to see this, I've always been curious how they turn a plastic encased battery into the raw materials.

@vicelias5288

Ай бұрын

They won't be around much longer in Gilbert or Rochester......look at their stock price and financials. They are soon to be bankrupt. 45 cents a share.

This is supercool, wish someone in the UK showed UK versions of these plants

Just fantastic. I just wish governing bodies around the world brought in legislation making any company using over a certain percentage of batteries in their production also where made responsible to recycle them like this as well. Be so easy for them to offer big discount to customers to bring the product back for recycling.

Ive personally worked and helped set up a battery recycling facility, that blackmass is absolutely the WORST THING TO SPILL and your floors will never be the same

I can really see him having his own TV show.

@DJLyncho

8 ай бұрын

I reckon he'd get more views online. But yep having a show on TV would be good for the old Sunday rewatch right 😁

@Calum...

8 ай бұрын

The age of TV is dead, mandem. But he would be great at making longer form documentaries

@ventilate4267

8 ай бұрын

How it's unmade

@alext6933

8 ай бұрын

I can't believe some people are still paying over $100 a month for cable tv

@akeelmohamed1825

8 ай бұрын

Hmm

Awesome video! That is a super interesting process! I'm glad those batteries are getting recycled!

What is the 5% unrecycled and where does it end up? This video is interesting, but I would like to go into more detail, like cost, or hov the black mass is processed later, or where is the gold stuff you mentioned? It is like short trailer which left me hungry. :)

Great to hear! I am less worried now, however, I believe you said the NY facility is not fully constructed yet so they haven't produced any recycled batteries? Or is it being done elsewhere while they are waiting to come on line? Will the new facility be able to supply new car batteries? Just curious, but still glad they are doing this! Thanks for sharing.

It would be great to see a comparison between recycled content and how much overall cost and energy used to recycle all the material and recreate a battery vs straight from mine to product.

@AerialWaviator

8 ай бұрын

The video states 70% less cost and energy is require to harvest materials from the recycled stock vs. mining the materials from the Earth in the first place. ie: only ~30% of the original cost and energy is required.

@bagel080

8 ай бұрын

@@AerialWaviator Thanks! Wow nice! It would be great to see a complete breakdown of the data used in the calculation, kinda like when you look at gov data. Lol.

@jamieclaudeo8107

8 ай бұрын

@@AerialWaviator The video states 70% less energy is required to use this material VS new material pulled from the earth, however, cost is not included with the statistics in this video. Unfortunately, the physical cost to recycle materials is immensely expensive - its a huge issue that's been affecting the solar industry for years.

@beanapprentice1687

8 ай бұрын

@@jamieclaudeo8107 the cost to recycle these things will go down over time, just like how the cost to recycle lead acid batteries went down.

@Mike-Tiger

7 ай бұрын

@@AerialWaviator How simple to get such profit?!! If this is true, giant companies would switch to this cycle business🤔

The process looks very simple but I'm sure developing and perfecting this process required a ton of work. Great work! Would love to see more encouragement/incentives to recycle old batteries instead of mining new one.

@ProXcaliber

8 ай бұрын

There comes a point where these companies can only do so much, and then it comes to the people that use these batteries to actually dispose of them properly, that means you and me.

@NanoMine

8 ай бұрын

@@ProXcaliber Absolutely, people need to be educated about limited resources and importance of recycling. Perhaps governments should step in to educated and encourage.

@ProXcaliber

8 ай бұрын

@@NanoMine I definitely agree that governments should be doing more to encourage recycling in general, not just for electronics and batteries. But the companies that we buy from can also do some encouraging themselves. Like, for example, a small kickback program for recycling the electronics or battery you are replacing or getting rid of.

@rogerstarkey5390

8 ай бұрын

@@ProXcaliber Not just batteries. Let's say you are disposing of an old TV, or printer, etc. Pull the back off. Remove the circuit boards. Send them to these companies (same box as the batteries?) Those boards have Gold, Silver, Lead. Copper, Aluminum, Antimony, Silicon, and other compounds which can be ground up and recovered. Small amounts, but literally billions are discarded every year.

@nickardecky7404

8 ай бұрын

@@NanoMine Perhaps governments should step in and say, collect our lithium batteries. The recycling should not ALL fall on the consumer. That's more prone to error than a paid government service that makes it easy to drop off, or collect. Recycling centers do exist in San Diego California, but I would have to drive 45 minutes, or longer, to reach these facilities and then wait in line. That's too much effort, especially if I'm just dropping off a small drill battery or something.

Great stuff.... despite how efficient this system is, it still needs people to recycle.... I wonder what the percentages are of people that recycle their batteries vs. those that throw them in the trash.

Surprised that manual shaking is used to dislodge the black mass - or was that just a demo for the video? I 'had thought vibration could have been used. Fascinating film that answers a load of questions.

While this process is very impressive what I am most interested in is how they separate the black mass into each subcomponent and purify it enough to make it useful. Does anyone have a link to a text or video describing this process? I did some digging and struck out.

@zukomaki

8 ай бұрын

My exact same thought. Untill i see them take those bags of "black mass" with all the materials in it and actually producing a new battery of it, I am not buying into this. Atm all i saw was a place that seperates the plastic and copper and metal but the core material of your battery is in that black mud. So if that factory, that is going to use those bags and make new products of that recycled material, actually works only then can we say they are recyclable.

@ProXcaliber

8 ай бұрын

@@zukomaki In the video, you can see some of the batteries they made in the background. However, a good idea on how they turn that black mass into usable materials is through chemical separation. Each element in that mass has different properties that can interact with different chemicals to be separated and then purified to be reused. I'd suggest instead of searching on how batteries are recycled, how batteries are made in general since that will give you a good idea of what is required. Separating the black mass into the needed elements is the easy part. The hard part is making the batteries. I'd also recommend looking into a company called Redwood Materials which is a company similar to this, doing the same thing, but they have videos on the entire process.

@zukomaki

8 ай бұрын

@@ProXcaliber I'll be sure to look into that other company you mentioned. Would be nice to see the whole process. Though if you could send a link of the video you mentioned where they show the whole process that would help me a lot :D