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Time line: You will have 2 weeks to complete the on-line discussion as a team. Use this blog to capture your thoughts, perspectives, ideas, and revisions as you work together on this problem. This activity is discussion-based, meaning you will participate through a collaborative exchange and critique of each other’s ideas and work. The goal is to challenge and support one another as a team to tap your collective resources and experiences to dig more deeply into the issue(s) raised in the scenario. Since the idea is that everyone in the discussion will refine his/her ideas through the discussion that develops, you should try to respond well before the activity ends so that the discussion has time to mature. It is important to make your initial posts and subsequent responses in a timely manner. You are expected to make multiple posts during each stage of this on-going discussion. The timeline below suggests how to pace your discussion. This is just a suggestion. Feel free to pace the discussion as you see fit.
Tuesday Week 1 Initial Posts: All participants post initial responses to these instructions (see below) and the scenario.
Thursday Week 1 Response Posts: Participants respond by tying together information and perspectives on important points and possible approaches. Participants identify gaps in information and seek to fill those gaps.
Tuesday Week 2 Refine Posts: Participants work toward agreement on what is most important, determine what they still need to find out, & evaluate one or more approaches from the previous week’s discussion.
Thursday Week 2 Polish Final Posts: Participants come to an agreement on what is most important, and propose one or more approaches to address the issue/s.
Discussion Instructions
Imagine that you are a team of engineers working together for a company or organization to address the issue raised in the scenario. Discuss what your team would need to take into consideration to begin to address the issue. You do not need to suggest specific technical solutions, but identify the most important factors and suggest one or more viable approaches.
Suggestions for discussion topics
• Identify the primary and secondary problems raised in the scenario.
• Who are the major stakeholders and what are their perspectives?
• What outside resources (people, literature/references, and technologies) could be engaged in developing viable approaches?
• Identify related contemporary issues.
• Brainstorm a number of feasible approaches to address the issue.
• Consider the following contexts: economic, environmental, cultural/societal, and global. What impacts would the approaches you brainstormed have on these contexts?
• Come to agreement on one or more viable approaches and state the rationale.
Lithium mining for lithium-ion electrical vehicle batteries
The US government is investing heavily in sustainable resource research and development in order to decrease national oil consumption, and automotive industries around the world are competing in a global race for “sustainable mobility”. There were about 52 million total vehicles produced in the world in 2009, and replacing a significant amount of them with highly electrified vehicles poses a major challenge. The state of California is targeting 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) on its streets by 2020. By that same date, Nissan forecasts that EVs will become 10% of all global sales.
Battery technology is currently the major bottleneck in EV design. In 2009, President Obama announced $2.4 billion in grants to accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of next generation batteries and EVs. Lithium-ion batteries are the first choice for the emerging EV generation, (the Chevy Volt, the Volvo C30, the Nissan Leaf), because they feature high power density, manageable operating temperatures, and are relatively easy to recharge on the grid.
In spite of its potential, lithium may not be the answer to the EV battery challenge. Lithium, which is recovered from lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), is not an unlimited resource. Lithium-based batteries are already used in almost all portable computers, cell phones and small appliances. Utility-scale lithium-based energy storage devices are in the works for smart grid applications, such as balancing energy supply-demand fluctuations. Lithium is also extensively used in a number of processes we take for granted: the manufacturing of glass, grits, greases and aluminum, among others. This makes accurate estimations of future demand in relation to resource availability almost impossible.
According to Meridian International Research, an independent renewable-energy think tank, there is insufficient recoverable lithium in the earth's crust to sustain electric vehicle manufacture based on Li-ion batteries in the volumes required by the mass market. Lithium depletion rates would exceed current oil depletion rates, potentially switching dependency from one diminishing resource to another. The United States Geological Survey reports that the Salar de Uyuni salt pans of Bolivia contain the largest untapped reserve of lithium in the world – an estimated 5.4 million metric tons or almost 50% of the global lithium reserve base. Other estimates put the Bolivian resource as high as 9 million metric tons. Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has consistently rejected bids by Mitsubishi and Toyota to mine lithium in his country and has announced plans to develop a state-controlled lithium mining operation. Prices of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) have more than doubled since 2004. Lithium batteries are costly, too; battery packs for vehicles cost upwards of $20,000 alone, driving up the overall cost.
Lithium CAN be recycled, but there is little existing infrastructure. In 2009, a California company, Toxco Waste Management, received $9.5 million in grants from the US Department of Energy to help build the first US-based facility for recycling lithium batteries in anticipation of demand.
How much lithium is needed to power an electric vehicle?
Energy requirements………………………..16 kilowatt hours (specified for Chevy Volt)
Lithium estimates per kWh……………….0.431 kg (US Department of Transportation estimate)
Total lithium for one Chevy Volt……….6.86 kg
Total Li2CO3 for one Chevy Volt ......... 36.5 kg
Total Li2CO3 one million PHEVs ..........36,500 metric tons
Sources
Lithium Dreams: Can Bolivia Become the Saudi Arabia of the Electric-Car Era? (March 22, 2010). The New Yorker.
Lithium Largesse? (August 2009). American Ceramic Society Bulletin.
US Department of Energy, Press Release. (August 5, 2009)
Bolivia’s Lithium Mining Dilemma. (September 8, 2008) BBC News.
The Trouble with Lithium: Implications of Future PHEV Production for Lithium Demand. (2007). Meridian International Research.
For the goal of obtaining a "sustainable mobility" and reduce oil dependency, the government is seeking alternatives. One of the alternatives is electric vehicles that use lithium batteries. Lithium is a rare resource and is not only used for cars, but also laptops and cell phones. The problem is that Lithium is not being manufactured to its full potential needed to support a global econonmy. The manufacturing of it will either need to increase or another resource or method will need to be used.
ReplyDeleteIn order to address this issue we must address the Lithium lifecycle and the major sources of lithium. According to Meridian International Research there is “insufficient recoverable lithium in the earths crust.” We can therefore only look at it as a temporary solution. Recycling will help extend our use of it but only if we can develop the infrastructure necessary.
ReplyDeleteAnother key issue is the Lithium sources. Since almost 50% of the worlds Lithium is located in Bolivia, the Bolivian president was very smart to hold out for a nationally run mining operation. The price of Lithium has already “more than doubled since 2004” and it will continue to rise as this technology progresses.
As Tanner said the manufacturing of Lithium will definitely need to increase to support these electrical vehicles. Yet even if we reach maximum Lithium production it will not be enough for the global economy. This is only one option in our search for alternative energy and a combination of technologies will be needed to fulfill our energy needs.
The goal of increasing the overall use of renewable energy by the government and the public creates issues which need to be figured out first before this goal can be reached. One issue is Lithium. The increase in desire for electric vehicles has increased the need for Lithium to be used for the batteries. Electric vehicles are meant to reduce some of the dependency on the diminishing oil resource. According to Meridian International Research however, the Lithium resource could diminish faster than the oil resource. This problem is beneficial for some and detrimental to others.
ReplyDeleteThe largest resource of Lithium is expected to be Bolivia. Bolivia has a lot to benefit from the desire for Lithium. Their decision to mine the Lithium themselves means they get the profit from the Lithium and not some foreign company. Also Lithium recycling centers and research for recycling will also benefit heavily from going the Lithium battery approach for electric vehicles.
The people who will suffer if no new battery technology can replace or equal Lithium-Ion batteries are the consumers. Lithium prices will skyrocket as the resources are used up. One solution was brought up about recycling Lithium. This is a viable solution but currently there is no infrastructure to do this.
The major obstacules in the way of using Lithium for electric vehicles are the abundance, recycling, and price. It might end up being more beneficial to spend more money on research for alternatives to Lithium batteries than spend that money creating the infrastructure to efficiently use Lithium for batteries.
It seems like Lithium batteries aren't the best solution for long term mobility needs. There's not enough, and it's expensive because Bolivia is holding out. It sounds a lot like oil all over again. If we're already using Lithium for a lot of other stuff, then an alternative for cars should be used. We might as well use polar bears to pull cars around.
ReplyDeleteCurrently lithium is being considered to help reach the U.S. government’s goal of decreasing the national oil consumption while creating a sustainable mobility. The major question is will lithium be able to keep up with the increasing demand. According to a study done by Meridian International Research in 2008, “realistically achievable lithium carbonate production will be sufficient for only a small fraction of future PHEV and EV global market requirements. Demand from the portable electronics sector will absorb much of the planned production increases in the next decade.” It seems that even with Bolivia increasing its mining operation that still may not be enough to meet the growing demand.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to consider is the like oil lithium is not an unlimited resource. Even if Bolivia’s increased mining operation could meet the worlds growing demand how long would that last? Would we eventually be in the same place we are now with oil searching for another alternative? It is possible to recycle and reuse lithium and it needs to be determined if recycling lithium is a feasible solution.
One of the major stakeholders in the increased use of lithium is Bolivia. With the majority of the world’s lithium there they will see a huge increase in revenue for further exports. Other stakeholders are the oil exporting countries like Saudi Arabia who stand to lose a lot of money if lithium becomes a viable option for use in electric vehicles.
Lithium is so expensive, people aren't going to want to buy an EV if prices are too high. We might as well keep buying expensive gas. The only positive is the environmental impact. I'm guessing throwing Lithium batteries into landfills isn't very good for the environment. Recycling the lithium would be good for sustainability if we had the facilities for it. If that can't happen then it seems like a completely alternative solution would be best for the long term. If cars ran on something that was abundant and inexpensive or free then we wouldn't have to worry about this stuff.
ReplyDeleteLithium cannot be the only source for producing an electrical vehicle. Our economy is demanding a more oil independent economy due to oil prices and oil transporation costs. An electrical system powering EVs is more stable economy than an oil driven one.
ReplyDeleteThough Lithium can be recycled, tracked by the goverment like China is doing, or increased in production, it is still not enough. Other possible sources that will reduce lithium dependency is needed. Only Lithium is stated as the only option for EV batteries but other alternative must be found. This will require research into other sources.
Looking at the use of lithium batteries in EV from an environmental stand point I have always wondered if the use of EV’s are in fact going to be more environmentally friendly then current gasoline vehicles as it is usually stated. Lithium itself can be recycled and therefore limit its impact on the environment. The big concern that I have is where is the power coming from that is going to be used to charge these lithium batteries. Most of the country gets its power from coal or natural gas, except for us up here in the northwest, is it really going to be less of an environmental impact to burn coal and natural gas to convert electricity to charge the lithium batteries. It there is a significant increase in the use of EV’s were are also going to see an increased demand for electricity which will mean more burning of coal and natural gas.
ReplyDeleteEric brought up a good point. Lithium is not used to produce energy, its used to store it. The electrical energy used to power the vehicles must come from somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteAnother technology that should be considered to store energy is hydrogen power. These hydrogen fuel cells "generate electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water." This allows for a clean cycle where the only byproduct is water vapor.
The problem here is the energy to separate hydrogen and oxygen in the first place. Clean energy cannot always be utilized in this case.
Cars have already been produced with these fuel cells so its just a matter of adopting the new technology and allocating energy to create the fuel.
Iceland phasing out fossil fuels for clean energy:
http://articles.cnn.com/2007-09-18/tech/driving.iceland_1_electricity-and-hot-water-fuel-cell-icelanders?_s=PM:TECH
All of these problems and issues brought up so far are very valid. Most problems like lithium polluting the environment if not recycled, prices on the production of lithium batteries, and lithium resource limits all seem to be being solved individually. Solutions like recycling centers and alternative materials are currently being researched to fix some of these problems. One of the biggest tasks at hand is finding some solution which can satisfy as many of these problems as it can. Solving every problem is going to be impossible but I believe many of them can be solved. By combining the research being done now on lithium batteries, like that of Valence Technology, of Austin, Texas and by 3M Company, of St. Paul, Minneapolis, we can solve some of these problems simultaneously. These companies have taken on the challenge of creating a better and safer lithium battery.
ReplyDeleteLike others have mentioned there are alternatives to lithium batteries. A company in Camarillo, California, called Zinc Matrix Power is currently marketing a safer microbattery than lithium ion batteries which are 95% recyclable. The unknown about what future technology can offer makes this situation very hard to develop a specific solution. The end result for the lithium problem will most likely be complex and involve several solutions put together.
I believe we are on the right track about first looking at the major deficiencies with using lithium and researching alternatives. There are many people who will be affected by the lithium trade and all possibilities should be looked at.
As many of us have talked about, Lithium may not be the best decision for batteries. Other avialble resources would be Zinc batteries or even solid state batteries which hold more power than their solution counterparts.
ReplyDeleteThough Lithium does have its bonuses for being light and able to store a large amount of power. These other options with research could surpass lithium. Zinc would be a great option since zinc is very common in the U.S. unlike lithium.
Yeah, zinc-air batteries look pretty god except they haven't really been developed. They are cheaper though, which would make people more inclined to buy cars that use them. If people developed zinc batteries so they are as good as lithium batteries then lithium could only be used for cell phones and other things like that.
ReplyDeleteOne viable plan of attack for this problem would be to focus efforts on new technologies to eventually replace lithium batteries or at least supplement them. This would eventually solve or significantly reduce the issue of using lithium batteries. New technologies could fully replace or nullify the current issues with using lithium. While these technologies are currently unknown, the problems with lithium are not immediate. As mentioned by others the lithium resource would begin declining fast if the current trend continues. By supplementing lithium batteries with other batteries the need for lithium could be managed to the point where it wouldn’t be much of an issue. New technologies could also help as far as safety and recycling of lithium batteries.
ReplyDeleteSo many companies are currently researching these problems that the chances of new technologies succeeding at finding a solution are high. If efforts are focused at research rather than implementing an old system the lithium problem could be solved fairly quickly. This method is more of a long term solution since research is unpredictable. Something more immediate might have to be done now. This is something which can be researched and found right now rather than waiting for new technologies to be found.
I agree with Brent. Solving the issue or at least reducng it with other resources would be very beneficial. A focus on zinc would lessen our use of lithium.
ReplyDeleteThough one resource is not enough to solve the issue. Using a variety of resources and technologies will stabalize the situation. This is because as with the oil market today, we are dependent on one source which cause a lot of economic uncertainty.
To develop a plan for solving this energy problem everything must be listed out and compared. First we must look at all our options for creating usable energy: coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, solar, wind etc. Secondly we must look at our options for storing energy: lithium batteries, zinc batteries, hydrogen power etc.
ReplyDeleteOnce all of these options have been identified estimate will need to be developed as to their possibility of being implemented. The resource's source must be taken into account along with the current and potential technology available for it. As Bretzel said, this problem will need a substantial amount of research for new technologies to emerge, and work together, to provide us with energy
Lithium, just like fossil fuels, is just a delay until sustainable and renewable forms of energy can utilized to their full potential. It is a step in the right direction but still leaves PLM issues. It is not only a need for reliable energy, but a reformation of energy production and consumption. A global effort is needed to move into the future.
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ReplyDeleteI like the sound of zinc-air batteries, if they get developed for use in electric cars. Lithium is good for the small batteries but using it for cars is just going to put a strain on mining and manufacturing. If zinc batteries are cheaper and more plentiful, then they make a good alternative to lithium. Also, zinc mining and production would increase and make jobs here.
ReplyDeleteI like Robert’s idea of using hydrogen fuel cells as another possible alternative. Unlike lithium hydrogen is not a resource we could run out of since the hydrogen that would be used for fuel cells is in water and the process of burning hydrogen would combine it back with oxygen into water. The only problem with hydrogen is the same one I stated earlier with lithium which is where do you get the energy to remove hydrogen from water and is that cleaner than current gasoline. In 2005 the Energy Policy Act was initiated and by 2008 the U.S. contributed over 1 billion dollars to hydrogen fuel cell research. However, in 2009 the Obama administration cut off funding for the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The belief was that hydrogen vehicles “will not be practical over the next 10 to 20 years” stated by the US Secretary of Energy. Politicians may be forced to look at the short term but we as engineers must always keep an eye on the bigger picture. Hydrogen fuel cells themselves will be completely clean burning producing only water.
ReplyDelete