Rice University Researchers Find Efficient Way to Recycle Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastics into Silicon Carbide

On February 29, 2024, Rice University reported:

‘Glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP), a strong and durable composite material, is widely used in everything from aircraft parts to windmill blades. Yet the very qualities that make it robust enough to be used in so many different applications make it difficult to dispose of ⎯ consequently, most GFRP waste is buried in a landfill once it reaches its end of life. According to a study published in Nature Sustainability, Rice University researchers and collaborators have developed a new, energy-efficient upcycling method to transform glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) into silicon carbide, widely used in semiconductors, sandpaper and other products…This new process grinds up GFRP into a mixture of plastic and carbon and involves adding more carbon, when necessary, to make the mixture conductive. The researchers then apply high voltage to it using two electrodes, bringing its temperature up to 1,600-2,900 degrees Celsius (2,912-5,252 Fahrenheit). “That high temperature facilitates the transformation of the plastic and carbon to silicon carbide,” Tour explained. “We can make two different kinds of silicon carbide, which can be used for different applications. In fact, one of these types of silicon carbide shows superior capacity and rate performance as battery anode material.”‘

Read the full article on the Rice University news site.

Read the study in Nature Sustainability at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01287-w.

E-waste Recycling Process Garners Grant and Finalist Status in Royal Society of Chemistry Environment Awards

On August 3, 2022 the University of Leicester reported:

“An electronic waste-recycling process that’s kinder to the planet – and uses pioneering technology developed at the University of Leicester – has attracted a £1.2m grant and national awards recognition Recycling e-waste, such as discarded mobile phones, laptops and anything with an electronic circuit board, can cause significant environmental problems. This is because the critical metals in circuit boards are difficult to recycle, with the process requiring large and expensive, polluting, smelting facilities. New alternative chemistry based techniques are on the horizon, but the vast majority of these require the use of highly dangerous acids and oxidisers that are consumed in the process and need replacing on a regular basis, meaning more transport of hazardous materials on the roads and a high CO2 footprint which comes from the necessary neutralisation of these chemicals after their use. But, there’s a potentially zero-carbon, clean chemical solution, based on the environmentally-benign Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) – a class of chemistry developed by Leicester scientists in the early 2000s. The DES recycling process sees the solvents dissolve the target metals into a solution without the need for toxic chemicals or high temperatures. The solution is also not consumed within the process and can itself be recycled and used again...UK-based company Descycle, is using the DES chemistry to develop a commercially viable recycling plant that will be hosted by Descycle’s joint venture partners Gap Group…Descycle is also working with waste company GAP, to build a waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling facility in the north-east of England, which uses DES chemistry. Descycle’s Chief Technology Officer is Dr Rob Harris, who is also a researcher at the University and is working on making the technology commercially viable. The work he and Descycle are carrying out has attracted the attention of judges at the highly competitive Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Emerging Technologies Competition, which received applications from all over the globe, and were shortlisted for the Environment award. Hot on the heels of the shortlisting, comes the news that Dr Harris and Descycle have also secured a Future Leaders Fellowship from the UKRI’s flagship scheme to continue development of the e-waste and other metals recycling and recovery processes using the technology.”

Read the full article from the University of Leicester at https://le.ac.uk/news/2022/august/ewaste-award.

ORNL Scientists Scale up Process to Reclaim Rare Earths from Scrap Magnets

On August 1, 2022, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) reported that one of its research teams, in collaboration with Momentum Technologies, “piloted an industrial-scale process for recycling valuable materials in the millions of tons of e-waste generated annually in the United States…Researchers previously demonstrated a method for recycling scrap permanent magnets in consumer electronics using membrane solvent extraction. Now the technology has met a critical step toward deployment. The system has been scaled up to achieve high-purity separations.”

The following is the abstract from an article published by the team in Advanced Engineering Materials:

“This study reports the process scale-up and long-term performance of an energy-efficient and cost-effective membrane solvent extraction (MSX) process for separation and recovery of high purity rare earth oxides (REOs) from scrap permanent magnets (SPMs). The rare earth elements (REEs), including dysprosium, neodymium, and praseodymium, are recovered from SPMs using a neutral extractant, tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA) embedded in a microporous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane module. The MSX process performance is demonstrated with bench scale module with membrane surface area of 1.4 m2 to industrial scale modules with membrane surface area of up to 20 m2 to enable the processing of up to 1 ton month−1 of SPMs. The purity and the yield of the recovered REOs are >99.5 wt% and >95%, respectively. The average extraction rate of REOs is >10 g m−2 hr−1. A skid of MSX system is assembled with a membrane area of 40 m2. The MSX skid successfully recovers REOs with a capacity of 300 kg REOs/month. Finally, it is determined that the organic phase containing the extractant maintains its performance up to 250 h. The results suggest that the MSX process is an economically viable and environmentally friendly process for separation and recovery of REOs from electronic wastes.”

ORNL scientist and lead author on the article, Syed Islam, is quoted in the ORNL announcement as saying “We’re working with partners toward commercialization and exploring applications to recycle REEs used in growing technology areas, such as wind power and electric vehicles.”

Read the ORNL announcement: https://www.ornl.gov/news/saving-e-waste-scraps

Read the journal article from Advanced Engineering Materials: https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202200390

US EPA Seeks Feedback on Development of Battery Collection Best Practices and Labeling Guidelines

US EPA is hosting virtual feedback sessions to solicit input on new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law initiatives on end-of-life battery collection and labeling. A recent session was held on 6/15/22; in case you missed that, register for a similar session June 30, 2022 from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Central Time at https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_izu6yTpXTYG2Pjr6mystag. If you require accommodations, please send an email to: meetings@erg.com.

This session will cover two EPA initiatives under development:

  • Battery collection best practices that are feasible for tribal, state, and local governments, environmentally sound for waste management workers, and increase the recovery of critical minerals.
  • Battery labeling guidelines to improve battery collection including by:
    • identifying collection locations,
    • promoting consumer education about battery collection and recycling, and
    • reducing the improper disposal of batteries and associated fires.

 EPA is seeking feedback on:

  • What types of batteries should EPA include in the best practices for collection (e.g., small consumer batteries, electric vehicle and grid storage batteries, industrial batteries, etc.)?
  • What are the current barriers to safe and effective battery collection and recycling?
  • What practices exist to improve battery collection and recycling, especially to increase the safe recovery of critical minerals?
  • What types of communication and outreach activities are most useful to reach key battery stakeholders?
  • What existing labeling programs should EPA use to inform a new labeling program?

Who should attend?

The session is open to all stakeholders involved in the battery lifecycle, including:

  • battery manufacturers,
  • battery retailers,
  • battery recyclers,
  • consumers and businesses that purchase batteries,
  • companies in the electric vehicle management chain, and
  • tribal, state, and local government agencies.

Why should I attend? Participants will have the opportunity to inform EPA’s development of best practices and guidelines for end-of-life battery collection and labeling.

EPA will also provide an opportunity to provide written feedback. For additional information, including how to submit written feedback, visit: https://www.epa.gov/rcra/battery-collection-best-practices-and-voluntary-battery-labeling-guidelines. You can also sign up for EPA updates: www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/forms/stay-connected.

More information about EPA’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law work:   

Group Examines Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling and Reuse Opportunities in Michigan

An electric vehicle plugged in to charge

A collaborative effort in Michigan is considering recycling and repurposing capacity and opportunities in the state of Michigan, as reported by Chioma Lewis for Great Lakes Echo:

A new project by recycling company Battery Solutions and sustainability-focused group NextEnergy aims to make electric vehicle recycling opportunity recommendations to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy by February 2022.

The project is funded by a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy as part of their NextCycle Michigan initiative.

A major part of the project is to build capacity in the state for repurposing and recycling electric vehicle batteries, said Jim Saber, the president and CEO of NextEnergy.

The six-stage project will involve cataloging, evaluating and analyzing Michigan’s electric vehicle battery supply chain and infrastructure.

The project will also analyze gaps in electric vehicle battery secondary use and recycling opportunities.

Electric vehicle battery components could be reclaimed for use in the creation of new batteries or other products, while intact batteries might be repurposed for renewable power or other energy storage applications.

Read the full story in Great Lakes Echo.

Learn More

New Wind Turbine Blade Design Reportedly Cheaper, Recyclable

As reported in Scientific American, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new wind turbine blade that will be cheaper to make and transport, and is recyclable, unlike blades currently in use which end up being landfilled at end-of-life.

“It’s not easy to make a wind turbine blade. Conventional blades require a lot of labor. They are a sandwich composed of fiberglass, sheets of balsa wood and a chemical called an epoxy thermoset resin. A heat oven is required to give blades the proper shape, strength, smoothness and flexibility to catch the wind and turn the turbine.

The new NREL blade uses most of these components, but bonds them together with a thermoplastic resin that can harden and set the blade’s shape at room temperature. It can also be reclaimed at the end of its life by heating it into a liquid resin that can then be reused to make new blades.

That minimizes the waste problem, which became more difficult in Europe after the European Union banned old blades from being dumped in landfills. The new resin is called Elium, and it’s made by Arkema Inc., a French company with offices in King of Prussia, Pa. Arkema is working with NREL to develop the recyclable blade.”

Testing has also suggested the new blade design could have a greater “damping effect,” meaning there would be reduced vibration in the wind during use, and thus, less of the noise nuisance which has been associated with wind turbines. This may also mean reduced stress on the turbine structure resulting in a longer product life.

While this is certainly a promising development, more research is needed before such blades become available for use. Experts at NREL say years of further testing may be required to assure the new blade design is capable of living up to the industry standard of enduring outdoor elements for about 30 years.

Read the full story at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-wind-turbine-blades-could-be-recycled-instead-of-landfilled/

 

Learn More

Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills, Feb. 5, 2020 by Chris Martin for Bloomberg

Wind Turbine End-of-Life Strategies from the AWEA

NREL Advanced Manufacturing Research Moves Wind Turbine Blades Toward Recyclability, NREL news release, Nov. 17, 2020

Woman in lab coat examines wind turbine blade
NREL researcher Robynne Murray works on a thermoplastic composite turbine blade at the Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility at NREL’s Flatirons Campus. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL

Fruit Peels Prove Useful for Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries

Food waste and electronic waste are two aspects of the waste stream that present a multitude of challenges for human society. Now a team of scientists led by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore has developed a way to use food waste–specifically orange peels–to recover precious metals from spent lithium-ion batteries for reuse in the creation of new batteries.

As reported in SciTech Daily,

An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste and 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated globally each year.

Spent batteries are conventionally treated with extreme heat (over 500°C) to smelt valuable metals, which emits hazardous toxic gases. Alternative approaches that use strong acid solutions or weaker acid solutions with hydrogen peroxide to extract the metals are being explored, but they still produce secondary pollutants that pose health and safety risks, or rely on hydrogen peroxide which is hazardous and unstable.

Professor Madhavi Srinivasan, co-director of the NTU Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy (NTU SCARCE) lab, said: “Current industrial recycling processes of e-waste are energy-intensive and emit harmful pollutants and liquid waste, pointing to an urgent need for eco-friendly methods as the amount of e-waste grows. Our team has demonstrated that it is possible to do so with biodegradable substances.”‘

Current industrial processes for recycling batteries involve shredding the batteries and crushing them into a powdery substance. That powdery substance is either smelted at temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius to separate metals or subjected to a chemical leaching technique using a mixture of acids and hydrogen peroxide plus heat. The newly developed process substitutes orange peels instead of the acids and hydrogen peroxide typically used. The researchers oven-dried orange peels, ground them to powder, and mixed them with citric acid, a weak acid found in citrus fruits.

‘Asst Prof Tay explained: “The key lies in the cellulose found in orange peel, which is converted into sugars under heat during the extraction process. These sugars enhance the recovery of metals from battery waste. Naturally-occurring antioxidants found in orange peel, such as flavonoids and phenolic acids, could have contributed to this enhancement as well.”

Importantly, solid residues generated from this process were found to be non-toxic, suggesting that this method is environmentally sound, he added.’

The researchers were further able to use metals recovered via this process to assemble new lithium-ion batteries which displayed a charge-capacity similar to commercially available batteries.  The team is hoping to further optimize the batteries they can produce in this fashion and extend their “waste-to-resource” approach to other cellulose-rich fruit and vegetable waste and other lithium-ion battery types.

Learn more:

“Repurposing of Fruit Peel Waste as a Green Reductant for Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries” by Zhuoran Wu, Tanto Soh, Jun Jie Chan, Shize Meng, Daniel Meyer, Madhavi Srinivasan and Chor Yong Tay, 9 July 2020, Environmental Science & Technology.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c02873

Schematic showing the process of using orange peels to extract metals from lithium-ion batteries
Credit: NTU Singapore

New Recycling Process Turns E-waste into Metal Coating

In a paper published this summer in ACS Omega, Rumana Hossain and Veena Sahajwalla describe an innovative process for transforming electronic waste, or e-waste, into a protective coating for metal.

As reported in Science Daily,

‘A typical recycling process converts large quantities of items made of a single material into more of the same. However, this approach isn’t feasible for old electronic devices, or “e-waste,” because they contain small amounts of many different materials that cannot be readily separated. Now, in ACS Omega, researchers report a selective, small-scale microrecycling strategy, which they use to convert old printed circuit boards and monitor components into a new type of strong metal coating…

Based on the properties of copper and silica compounds, Veena Sahajwalla and Rumana Hossain suspected that, after extracting them from e-waste, they could combine them to create a durable new hybrid material ideal for protecting metal surfaces.

To do so, the researchers first heated glass and plastic powder from old computer monitors to 2,732 F, generating silicon carbide nanowires. They then combined the nanowires with ground-up circuit boards, put the mix on a steel substrate then heated it up again. This time the thermal transformation temperature selected was 1,832 F, melting the copper to form a silicon-carbide enriched hybrid layer atop the steel. Microscope images revealed that, when struck with a nanoscale indenter, the hybrid layer remained firmly affixed to the steel, without cracking or chipping. It also increased the steel’s hardness by 125%. The team refers to this targeted, selective microrecycling process as “material microsurgery,” and say that it has the potential to transform e-waste into advanced new surface coatings without the use of expensive raw materials.’

Learn more:

Rumana Hossain, Veena Sahajwalla. Material Microsurgery: Selective Synthesis of Materials via High-Temperature Chemistry for Microrecycling of Electronic Waste. ACS Omega, 2020; 5 (28): 17062 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c00485

Webinar: Sustainable Issues and Opportunities for Handling End-of-Life PV Modules

Register today for an upcoming free webinar organized by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center on end-of-life management of photovoltaic (PV) modules.

Date, Time & Registration Link

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, from 9:30 AM-11:00 AM CDT. Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/9214142045968489996.

Summary

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar power is the fastest-growing energy source in the U.S. and this growth will continue to rise. At the moment, only a few states have adopted solar PV end-of-life handling policy requirements. Therefore, a lot of modules that have reached their end-of-life will end up in landfills. Early failures, catastrophic events, and system upgrades will compound waste management issues of end-of-life PV modules. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Energy Agency finds a substantial increase in solar modules reaching their end-of-life in the 2020s and 2030s, with forecasts of 60 to 78 million cumulative tons of modules entering the waste streams globally by 2050.

Research by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) finds the design life of a PV module to be around 30 years. This does not account for early-loss failures which can occur through a range of factors including damages during the manufacturing process and transit, improper handling, and exposure to severe weather events. IRENA reports that most PV module waste today is due to early-loss scenarios and is estimated to contribute to more than 80% of the recycling market. The dramatic decline in PV equipment costs has also given system owners’ opportunities to reevaluate the overall efficiency of systems, and many utility-scale and commercial and industrial plant owners are now “repowering” systems across the U.S. This is done by replacing modules to increase the system’s overall performance and power ratings and extending the life of the system. NREL research has found that these lifetime estimations can happen as early as 10 years after the initial installation.

Governments and states are now beginning to see the overall value in end-of-life PV requirements for a circular economy. In 2012 the European Union’s Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment established PV module disposal and recycling guidelines. Extended-producer-responsibility principles are is at its core, holding the producers responsible for the recycling and treatment of end-of-life PV modules. Currently, there are no national U.S. requirements for end-of-life PV modules, however, ideas for national and state recycling programs have been evaluated.  This seminar will include a panel discussion on barriers, policies, and sustainable opportunities for end-of-life PV modules.

Panelists

  • Amanda Cotton is the e-waste coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Cotton has been involved with toxicity reduction, pollution prevention and product stewardship at the agency for 12 years.
  • Nancy Gillis is the CEO of the Green Electronics Council (GEC), a mission-driven non-profit that seeks to achieve a world of only sustainable ICT. GEC manages EPEAT, the leading global ecolabel for ICT and other electronic products.  Before joining GEC, Nancy served as the Global Lead for Resilient and Responsible Supply Chains at Ernst & Young (EY).  Prior to that, she served in the US Federal Government as the Director of the Federal Supply Chain Office at the General Services Administration (GSA), the public procurement agency for the US government.  At GSA, Nancy was responsible for the inclusion of sustainability criteria in approximately $45B of procurements.   Nancy received her graduate degree in Information Technology from Georgetown University.
  • Garvin Heath is a Senior Scientist and leader of sustainability analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. For the last 8 years he has led the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Task 12 (Sustainability) where the US has gained valuable insight and lessons from countries with more experience in recycling and the circular economy of PV modules. He led development of a PV recycling technology R&D Roadmap for the US Department of Energy, helped develop a new voluntary Sustainability Leadership Standard for PV Module manufacturing (including end of life management), and has been advising several U.S. states considering voluntary and regulatory responses to PV end of life management challenges.

Global E-waste Generation Reaches Record High in 2019, Could Reach 74.7 Million Metric Tons by 2030

In June, the Global E-Waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) released The Global E-waste Monitor 2020,  which examined the quantities, flows, and circular economy potential of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) across the planet. The report also includes national and regional analysis on
e-waste quantities and legislative instruments.

Cover of Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report

GESP was founded in 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations University (UNU), and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). Its objectives are to monitor developments of e-waste over time, and help countries to produce e-waste statistics, which in turn will inform policymakers, industries, academia, media, and the general public by enhancing the understanding and interpretation of global e-waste data and its relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the report, in 2019, the world generated 53.6 million metric tons (Mt, or Megatoone; see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Megatonne_(Mt) and http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_09.htm for explanations on units) of e-waste. This is an average of 7.3 kg (a little over 16 lbs) per capita, and represents a 21% increase in generation within 5 years. Further, the global generation of e-waste grew by 9.2 Mt since 2014 and is projected to grow to 74.7 Mt by 2030–this means the amount of e-waste generated will almost double in only 16 years.  Just 17.4% of the e-waste generated in 2019 was officially recycled, through formal recycling programs.

Additional findings include:

  • “The fate of 82.6% (44.3 Mt) of e-waste generated in 2019 is uncertain, and its whereabouts and the environmental impact varies across the different regions…In middle- and low-income countries… e-waste is managed mostly by the informal sector.”
  • “Since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy, legislation, or regulation has increased from 61 to 78.”
  • “E-waste contains several toxic additives or hazardous substances, such as mercury, brominated flame retardants (BFR), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). The increasing levels of e-waste, low collection rates, and non-environmentally sound disposal and treatment of this waste stream pose significant risks to the environment and to human health. A total of 50 t of mercury and 71 kt of BFR plastics are found in globally undocumented flows of e-waste annually, which is largely released into the environment and impacts the health of the exposed workers.”
  • “Improper management of e-waste also contributes to global warming.” (Note that outside the US,  the term “e-waste” or “WEEE” includes electrical equipment, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, which contain refrigerants that are greenhouse gases, whereas in the US, “e-waste” tends to refer to computers and peripherals, cell phones, printers, televisions, and similar electronics.)
  • “The value of raw materials in the global e-waste generated in 2019 is equal to approximately $57
    billion USD.”

The authors state, “In summary, it is essential to substantially increase the officially documented 17.4% global e-waste collection and recycling rate, especially in view of the rapid growth of this waste stream, which is already projected to reach 74.7 Mt by 2030, combined with increasing recovery of materials towards closed material loops and reducing the use of virgin materials.”

You may download the complete report at https://globalewaste.org/news/surge-global-waste/.

See also this analysis by Justine Calma for The Verge, July 2, 2020:  https://www.theverge.com/21309776/record-amount-ewaste-2019-global-report-environment-health.  Highlights from this article include:

  • “Small electronics — like video cameras, electronic toys, toasters, and electric shavers — made up the biggest chunk of 2019’s e-waste (about 32 percent). The next largest piece of the pie (24 percent) was made up of large equipment like kitchen appliances and copy machines. This group includes discarded solar panels, which aren’t a huge problem yet but could pose issues as the relatively new technology gets older. Screens and monitors created about half as much trash as large equipment but still amounted to close to 7 million metric tons of e-waste in 2019. Small IT and telecommunications equipment like phones added up to about 5 million metric tons of trash.”  
  • “The growing mounds of e-waste are only getting more complex and more toxic, according to Scott Cassel, who founded the nonprofit Product Stewardship Institute. ‘Electronic companies do a great job of designing for pleasure and efficiency, but the rapid change in consumer demand also means that they’re designing for obsolescence. So today’s newest, coolest product becomes tomorrow’s junk,’ Cassel says.”