8 • The Southwest Portland Post
Dear EarthTalk: Is the extraction
of lithium for lithium-ion batteries
really worse for the environment
than fracking?
– Mitch Newhouse, Oak Park, IL
In a world of modern technology,
lithium-ion batteries are hard to
escape; they’re in cell phones,
laptops, and basically anything else
with rechargeable batteries.
In fact, the demand for lithium-
ion batteries rose from zero percent
market share in 1991 to 80 percent in
2007, and the European Commission
expects the tonnage of lithium used
in batteries to double between 2010
and 2020.
Wi t h n o v i a b l e a l t e r n a t i v e s
anywhere near mainstream
production, Li-ion batteries look
like they’re here to stay for a while.
But thanks to some misinformation
on the Internet, lithium extraction
has gotten a bad rap.
As Mark Sumner points out
on Daily Kos, a pair of photos
released by the community group
Saskatchewan Proud shows a badly
scarred and stripped mine site on
the top along with the text “This is a
FEATURES
mine where lithium is extracted for
electric car batteries.”
On the bottom is a photo of a
neat and orderly fracking drill site
surrounded by vibrant-looking green
forest and lakes with the text “This is
an oil sands site in Alberta...Tell me
more about how your electric car is
better for the environment.”
But Sumner points out that the
top image in fact depicts one of the
world’s 10 largest copper mines
(BHP’s Escondida Mine in Chile)
and has nothing to do with lithium
extraction.
Lithium extraction does take an
environmental toll, from the process
of pumping briny groundwater
containing lithium carbonate out of
the ground and leaving it in pools so
the excess water can evaporate.
But the main environmental
consequence of this is large amounts
of water used to bind to the lithium
to facilitate extraction.
“There’s nothing you would think
of as mining,” reports Sumner. “No
blasting. No trucks driving around
carrying loads of crushed rock. No
sprays of sulfuric acid.”
While it’s true that chemicals
are used to refine lithium after it
is collected, potential dangers pale
compared to those from fracking,
which involves pumping harsh
chemicals underground to break up
shale layers to free natural gas, which
can lead to groundwater pollution
and even cause minor earthquakes.
Currently lithium-ion batteries’
biggest problem may be their
tendency to combust—remember
May 2017
Almost a third of the world's lithium comes from the Salar de Uyuni of Bolivia's
Altiplano. (Photo by Leonora (Ellie) Enking, FlickrCC)
the recall of 500,000 hoverboards and
then the infamous early version of
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7?
Th e i o n s i n s i d e lithium - io n
batteries can react if the wall between
them is compromised, generating
enough heat to potentially catch fire.
Manufacturers have mitigated
such issues in most applications, but
the problem can still rear its ugly
head when improperly discarded
lithium-ion batteries are exposed
to pressure and heat in a landfill or
recycling facility that can stimulate
combustion.
This is why it’s so important to
properly dispose of lithium-ion
batteries (or products containing
them) at hazardous waste or battery
recycling locations.
Of course, alternatives to lithium-
ion batteries do exist with huge
potential, but none are economical
enough to produce yet to be anywhere
near ready for mass production.
Some of the most promising include
batteries made from sodium-nickel
chloride, silver zinc or aluminum
graphite.
But the expense of the raw
materials and the immaturity of
the production processes will keep
these emerging battery technologies
on the drawing board for years to
come while lithium ion continues to
dominate the market.
C O N TA C T S : S a s k a t c h e w a n
Proud, https://www.facebook.com/
SaskatchewanProud/; Daily Kos,
http://www.dailykos.com (Someone
is lying about electric cars on the
internet).
EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy
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