Electric Car Battery Waste Management with Bacteria

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Electric car predicted to be unstoppable in the future. Many people switch to driving cars with minimal exhaust emissions for daily mobility.

Behind the pleasure of driving an electric car, there are a number of problems that the world will face, namely the waste of used electric car batteries.

The world is currently looking for ways to tackle waste from the core components of electric car batteries. Used batteries need special handling so they don’t become hazardous waste for the environment.

Keep in mind that the battery life of electric vehicles is relatively short. Electric vehicle batteries can only be used for eight to 10 years. After that period the owner must replace it with a new one.

So you can imagine how much battery waste would be if electric vehicles in the world were used massively. A number of experts have racked their brains on how to deal with waste electric car batteries.

One solution is to use bacteria to break down the core components of electric car batteries, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese.

The Next Web preach, the expert mentions the bioleaching method, also called biomining.

This method uses microbes that can oxidize metals. This method has been widely used in the mining industry, where microorganisms are used to extract valuable metals from ores.

Recently, this technique has been used to clean and recover materials from electronic waste, particularly computer components, solar panels, contaminated water, and even uranium dumps.

An electric car battery waste treatment plant like this requires a lot of funds because it requires sophisticated equipment to handle the harmful emissions generated by the smelting process.

The Conversation, researcher and professor at Coventry University in the UK Sebastien Farnaud supports such a method. He argues using bacteria is far more effective and green to extract precious metals from used electric car batteries.

This technology not only allows us to recycle more batteries.

Fernaud explained that the bioleaching process using microbes capable of oxidizing metals is the best for now.

Bioleaching requires bacteria to grow in an incubator at 37 degrees Celsius.

Less energy is required in the process, so the process has a much smaller carbon footprint than a typical recycling plant, and contributes less pollution. So this method is considered more efficient than the conventional method that is currently used.

“Rather than remaining an afterthought, recycling can be the beginning and end of the life cycle of an EV battery with bioleaching,” said Fernaud.

(ryh / mik)

[Gambas:Video CNN]

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