We all know modern-day slaves, including children, in the Congo are mining cobalt to power our electronics.
But did you know that we all have the power within us to save them?
All it takes is drinking a little water.
Researchers at the Linnaeus University in Sweden have discovered that they can retrieve 97% of the cobalt from a recycled electronic using urine.
Yes, urine.
Traditionally, recovering cobalt and other rare earth materials from a battery is expensive and inefficient. According to Ian Nicholls, professor of chemistry at Linnaeus University:
Today's methods for recycling cobalt from batteries come with many drawbacks. They require significant amounts of energy and create biproducts that are dangerous for both humans and the environment. With more efficient and environmentally friendly methods, we can reuse a very significant portion of the cobalt that is already in use, instead of mining ...
However, Subramanian Suriyanarayanan and his team may have changed all that. He discovered a new solvent using two-readily available materials: urine and acetic acid (AKA vinegar).
And the recycling process is much more energy efficient than traditional recycling methods as well. Nicholls says,
In our case, the reaction is as most efficient at 180 degrees Celsius. That makes our method much more energy efficient than today's commercial options, such as pyrometallurgy, which require extreme temperatures, often exceeding 1400 degrees.
After two days in the stew, 97% of the cobalt separates out from the batteries. The researchers have used the recycled cobalt to construct new batteries with no loss of function. Those batteries have been recycled and made into new batteries as well, again without loss of function. Nicholls explains,
The combination of readily available and relatively harmless substances and high energy efficacy gives our method potential to work for large scale extraction.
This sounds amazing, but I do have one question.
How in the world was this discovered?
Who peed on a battery and said, "Oh look. Cobalt"?
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