But producing so many electric vehicles (often abbreviated to EVs) in a decade would cause a surge in demand for metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. These metals are essential for making EV batteries, but they\u2019re not found everywhere<\/a>. Most of the world\u2019s lithium lies under the Atacama Desert<\/a> in South America, where mining threatens<\/a> local people and ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading manufacturers of EVs need to keep import costs low and find a reliable source of these raw materials. Mining the\u00a0deep sea<\/a>\u00a0is one option, but it\u00a0could also damage<\/a>\u00a0habitats and endanger wildlife. At the same time, waste electronics filled with precious metals are piling up in landfills and in some of the world\u2019s poorest regions \u2013 with\u00a02.5 million tonnes<\/a> added to the total each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EV batteries themselves only have a shelf life<\/a> of eight to ten years. Lithium-ion batteries are currently recycled at a meagre rate of less than 5%<\/a> in the EU. Instead of mining new sources of these metals, why not reuse<\/a> what\u2019s already out there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The largest lithium-ion battery recyclers are based in China<\/a>. While recycling is often treated as an obligation that companies should be paid to do in North America and Europe, competition is so intense for dead batteries in China that recyclers are willing to pay to get their hands on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of<\/a> the batteries that do get recycled are melted and their metals extracted. This is often done in large commercial facilities which use lots of energy and so emit lots of carbon. These plants are expensive to build and operate, and require sophisticated equipment to treat the harmful emissions generated by the smelting process. Despite the high costs, these plants rarely recover all valuable battery materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The value of the global market for metal recycling is expected to grow from US$52 billion (\u00a337 billion) in 2020 to US$76 billion by 2025<\/a>. Without less energy-intensive recycling methods, this emerging industry will only exacerbate environmental problems. But there is a natural process for extracting precious metals from waste that\u2019s been used for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bioleaching, also called biomining, employs microbes which can oxidise metal as part of their metabolism. It has been widely used in the mining industry, where microorganisms are used to extract valuable metals from ores. More recently, this technique has been used to<\/a> clean up and recover materials from electronic waste, particularly the printed circuit boards<\/a> of computers, solar panels, contaminated water<\/a> and even uranium dumps<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My colleagues and I in the Bioleaching Research Group at Coventry University have found that all metals present in EV batteries can be recovered using bioleaching. Bacteria like Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans<\/em> and other non-toxic species target and recover the metals individually without the need for high temperatures or toxic chemicals. These purified metals constitute chemical elements, and so can be recycled indefinitely into multiple supply chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe recycling economy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Bugs for batteries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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