Recaptured carbon dioxide may help us recycle batteries

Source: New Scientist

In a way that can assist with the recycling of metals from batteries, scientists from the University of Lyon, France, have come up with the chemistry to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air to extract the metals.

The process uses a mixture of polyamines which adsorb carbon dioxide readily. The scientists used carbon dioxide from the exhaust of an internal combustion engine to be fixated into a polyamine solution. As result, they gradually created a library of CO₂ loadings and solvents to assist with the precipitation of different metals.

They demonstrated that these metals could be extracted: lanthanum (La), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co). This shows that the three metal constituents of the La₂Ni₉Co alloys used to manufacture the batteries of electric vehicles can be separated and recovered by successive CO₂-induced selective precipitations.

This research shows that CO₂ can be captured sustainably as opposed to the capture and storage of CO₂ underground.

References:
- Captured carbon dioxide could be used to help recycle batteries. New Scientist, January 13, 2020.
-“Simultaneous CO₂ capture and metal purification from waste streams using triple-level dynamic combinatorial chemistry.” By J Septavaux, et.al. Nature Chemistry, 2020: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0388-5