Olapiriyakul Sun, Caudill Reggie J
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA.
Environ Sci Technol. 2009 Nov 1;43(21):8140-6. doi: 10.1021/es9006614.
The objective of this study is to use thermodynamic analysis to evaluate the environmental impact of nanotechnology products during the end-of-life (EOL) material recovery stage. A case study of the high-temperature metal recovery (HTMR) process used to recycle lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is presented. Previous research has shown that the melting behavior of nanomaterials may deviate from their corresponding bulk materials. The melting temperature of superheated nanomaterials in Li-ion batteries may exceed the process smelting temperature and result in nanomaterials contaminating the recovered material streams. Therefore, the smelting process must be operated at higher temperatures to ensure the full melting of the nanomaterials, resulting in higher energy consumption and process emissions. The environmental impact from the existing HTMR process is examined as well as the impact associated with operations at the higher smelting temperatures. Thermodynamic analysis, consisting of energy and exergy analyses, provides quantitative information on the resulting environmental impacts and the corresponding overall exergy loss, which may occur when recycling nanomaterial-containing Li-ion batteries.
本研究的目的是利用热力学分析来评估纳米技术产品在寿命终了（EOL）材料回收阶段对环境的影响。本文介绍了一个用于回收锂离子电池的高温金属回收（HTMR）工艺的案例研究。先前的研究表明，纳米材料的熔化行为可能与其相应的块状材料不同。锂离子电池中过热纳米材料的熔化温度可能超过工艺熔炼温度，导致纳米材料污染回收的物料流。因此，熔炼过程必须在更高的温度下运行，以确保纳米材料完全熔化，从而导致更高的能源消耗和工艺排放。研究了现有HTMR工艺对环境的影响以及在更高熔炼温度下运行所带来的影响。由能量分析和火用分析组成的热力学分析提供了有关回收含纳米材料的锂离子电池时可能产生的环境影响和相应的总火用损失的定量信息。
