鋰離子電池作為全球清潔能源的重中之重，是否會反過來制約鋰電池的發(fā)展？
來源：寶鄂實業(yè)
2019-06-24 11:33
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Lithium-ion batteries, as an important part of global clean energy, are being used by more and more enterprises to produce electric vehicles in recent years. Kane Energy Research Consulting has analyzed that the annual production of lithium ion industry is expected to increase from 100 MW in 2017 to nearly 800 MW in 2027. A few days ago, another foreign media forecast that the demand for lithium will increase to 1.3 million metric tons by 2025, which will be more than five times the current level.
In China, the reporter learned that the total lithium battery shipment in 2018 was 102 GWh, an increase of 27% year-on-year, of which 63.7% was for power batteries, and the proportion continued to rise.
"From the development trend, lithium batteries have become the main growth point of electrochemical energy storage, accounting for 75% of the chemical energy storage scale. On the one hand, driven by the rapid development of new energy vehicles, lithium battery materials and system technology are rapidly upgraded; on the other hand, the rapid decline in the cost of lithium iron phosphate batteries also makes it possible for large-scale commercial use of lithium batteries in the energy storage market. Recent research reports show that large-scale application of lithium batteries in energy storage market is irreversible. It is expected that in the next 1-2 years, the energy storage market, especially grid-side energy storage, will be able to usher in high-speed growth, driven by national policy guidelines and further decline in the cost of lithium battery energy storage.
02 Mining and recovery are easy to cause environmental pollution
However, the rising market of lithium battery industry can not cover up the drawbacks of utilizing lithium resources. As far as mining is concerned, both brine mining and hard rock mining will cause damage to the environment to varying degrees.
It is understood that the proportion of brine mining in lithium resources in China is more than 70%, which is the most important means to exploit lithium resources in China. This is a method of pumping mineral-rich brine out of the surface by drilling holes in the saline-alkali surface, then steaming and filtering the mineral water repeatedly to obtain solid, and finally extracting lithium carbonate from the mixture. This method not only consumes a great deal of water resources, but also produces toxic substances in the process of evaporation and filtration, which can easily cause adverse effects on water and land.
On the other hand, lithium battery recycling located downstream of the industrial chain is easy to pollute the environment because of improper treatment. According to relevant data, waste power lithium batteries contain a large number of heavy metal elements such as manganese, cobalt, nickel, and other highly toxic substances such as lithium hexafluorophosphate, as well as other volatile organic compounds in their electrolyte. If these substances are not properly disposed of, they will not only cause waste of resources, but also cause huge pollution to the environment.
"Waste power lithium batteries are not completely without'energy'. They still contain high pressures ranging from 300V to 1000V. If they are not properly operated in the process of recovery, disassembly and treatment, they may cause fire and explosion, heavy metal pollution, organic waste gas emissions and other problems." Cao Hongbin, a researcher at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.
03 Reducing Pollution Needs Innovative Technology
It has been reported that the larger the scale of electric vehicles, the larger the battery output, the stronger the economy of the industry, and the more efficient and less pollution the production process will be.
In response, Energy Exploration Technologies, which is committed to developing breakthrough lithium mining technologies, said that in order to meet the growing demand for lithium for electric vehicles, it is hoped that new technologies can be used to enhance the degree of brine extraction, even low-concentration brine resources that could not be exploited before. "Our goal is to develop lithium extraction separation membranes with fast, low cost, high recovery and minimal environmental impact." Tiger Egan, the company's chief executive, said that the company's metal-organic skeleton membranes could improve production by optimizing the extraction process, thereby significantly reducing the production price of lithium. "This can significantly increase production, while producers and their customers can also get higher economic benefits."
In addition to upgrading lithium extraction technology, many start-ups are looking for breakthroughs in battery storage technology, and they are trying to find a more efficient and cheaper "new" battery to replace or compensate for the shortcomings of lithium-ion batteries. One of the projects, called Breakthrough Energy Investments, is funded by billionaires such as Bill Gates to find solutions for a zero-carbon future.
Although the power battery industry is gradually on the right track, which has brought more positive significance, it also faces environmental protection problems: if the lithium resources are not properly handled in the process of exploitation and utilization, it will have a negative impact on the ecological environment. So, will this problem in turn restrict the development of lithium batteries?鋰離子電池作為全球清潔能源的重要組成部分，近年來正被越來越多的企業(yè)用于生產(chǎn)電動汽車。凱恩能源研究顧問公司曾分析，鋰離子行業(yè)的年產(chǎn)量預(yù)計將從2017年的100兆瓦時增長到2027年的近800兆瓦時。日前，另有外媒預(yù)測，到2025年鋰的需求量預(yù)計將增加到130萬公噸，將是目前水平的5倍有余。
而在國內(nèi)，記者了解到，2018年我國鋰電池總出貨量為102GWh，同比增長27%，其中動力電池出貨量占比63.7%，占比持續(xù)上升中。
“從發(fā)展態(tài)勢看，目前鋰電池成為電化學(xué)儲能的主要增長點，占據(jù)化學(xué)儲能規(guī)模75%。一方面，在新能源汽車高速發(fā)展的帶動下，鋰電池材料及系統(tǒng)技術(shù)迅速升級;另一方面，磷酸鐵鋰電池成本的快速下降也為鋰電池在儲能市場的大規(guī)模商用提供可能。”近日發(fā)布的調(diào)研報告顯示，儲能市場規(guī)模化應(yīng)用鋰電池已呈不可逆之勢，預(yù)計未來1-2年，在國家政策指引以及鋰電池儲能成本進(jìn)一步下滑的推動下，儲能市場，尤其是電網(wǎng)側(cè)儲能將能將迎來高速增長。
02開采與回收均易造成環(huán)境污染
然而，鋰電池產(chǎn)業(yè)的行情走高，并不能掩蓋利用鋰資源所帶來的弊端。就開采而言，無論是鹵水開采還是硬巖開采都會在不同程度上對環(huán)境造成破壞。
據(jù)了解，我國鋰資源的鹵水開采比例在70%以上，是我國開采鋰資源的最主要手段。這是一種通過在鹽堿地表鉆孔，將富含礦物質(zhì)的鹽水泵出地表，然后使礦物質(zhì)水反復(fù)蒸濾得出固體，最后從混合物中提取出碳酸鋰的方法。該法不僅對水資源消耗巨大，在蒸濾過程中產(chǎn)生的帶毒物質(zhì)也極易對水域、土地造成惡劣影響。
另一方面，位于產(chǎn)業(yè)鏈下游的鋰電池回收也容易因為處理不當(dāng)而污染環(huán)境。據(jù)相關(guān)資料顯示，廢舊動力鋰電池中含有大量的錳、鈷、鎳等重金屬元素，同時在其電解液中也包含有六氟磷酸鋰等高毒性物質(zhì)，以及其它易揮發(fā)性有機(jī)物，這些物質(zhì)如果得不到妥善處置，不僅會造成資源的浪費，還會對環(huán)境造成巨大污染。
“廢舊動力鋰電池并不是完全沒有了‘能量’，它依然含有300V到1000V不等的高壓，如果在回收、拆解、處理過程中操作不當(dāng)，可能帶來起火爆炸、重金屬污染、有機(jī)物廢氣排放等多種問題。”中國科學(xué)院過程工程研究所研究員曹宏斌表示。
03降低污染需創(chuàng)新技術(shù)
有報告指出，電動汽車的規(guī)?；礁?，電池的產(chǎn)量越大，該行業(yè)的經(jīng)濟(jì)性就越強，生產(chǎn)的過程也將向更高效、污染更少的方向發(fā)展。
對此，致力于研發(fā)突破性開采鋰技術(shù)的能源勘探技術(shù)公司表示，為滿足電動汽車日益增長的鋰需求，希望可以通過新技術(shù)來提升鹵水的開采度，甚至包括以前無法開采的低濃度鹵水資源。“我們的目標(biāo)是開發(fā)出快速、低成本、回收率高、對環(huán)境影響最小的鋰萃取分離膜。”該公司首席執(zhí)行官蒂格·伊根介紹，該公司的金屬有機(jī)骨架膜可以通過優(yōu)化提取工藝來提高產(chǎn)量，從而大幅降低鋰的生產(chǎn)價格。“這可以顯著提高產(chǎn)量，同時生產(chǎn)商及其客戶也能得到更高的經(jīng)濟(jì)效益。”
除了提升采鋰技術(shù)外，還有不少初創(chuàng)企業(yè)正在尋求電池存儲技術(shù)上的突破，他們企圖找到一種更高效、成本更低的“新型”電池，以取代或彌補鋰離子電池的缺點。其中一個名為“突破性能源投資”的項目，由比爾·蓋茨等多位億萬富翁資助，旨在為零碳未來找到解決方案。
雖然動力電池產(chǎn)業(yè)逐步走上正軌帶來了更多積極意義，但同時也面臨著環(huán)保難題：鋰資源在開采利用過程中如果處理不當(dāng)，會對生態(tài)環(huán)境造成不良影響。那么，這一問題是否會反過來制約鋰電池的發(fā)展？
