NTU Scientists Recover Precious Metals in Li-ion Batteries with Fruit Peels

Singapore scientists at NTU (including our consortium member Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan) have announced a novel process using orange peels to extract precious metals from battery waste, and subsequently creating functional batteries from these thereafter.

The scientists say that their waste-to-resource approach tackles both food waste and electronics waste,  supporting the development of a circular economy with zero waste, in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible. While hydrometallurgy is relatively more eco-friendly than conventional methods, the use of strong chemicals on an industrial scale could generate a substantial amount of secondary pollutants, posing significant safety and health risks. The NTU team found that the combination of orange peel (that has been oven-dried and ground into powder) and citric acidcan achieve the same goal.

More details can be found at this link.