A closed-loop process for recycling LiNi_xCo_yMn_((1-x-y))O_2 from mixed cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries

With the rapid development of consumer electronics and electric vehicles(EV), a large number of spent lithium-ion batteries(LIBs) have been generated worldwide. Thus, effective recycling technologies to recapture a significant amount of valuable metals contained in spent LIBs are highly desirable to prevent the environmental pollution and resource depletion. In this work, a novel recycling technology to regenerate a LiNi_(1/3)Co_(1/3)Mn_(1/3)O_2 cathode material from spent LIBs with different cathode chemistries has been developed. By dismantling, crushing,leaching and impurity removing, the LiNi_(1/3)Co_(1/3)Mn_(1/3)O_2(selected as an example of LiNi_xCo_yMn_(1-x-y)O_2) powder can be directly prepared from the purified leaching solution via co-precipitation followed by solid-state synthesis. For comparison purposes, a fresh-synthesized sample with the same composition has also been prepared using the commercial raw materials via the same method. X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and electrochemical measurements have been carried out to characterize these samples. The electrochemical test result suggests that the re-synthesized sample delivers cycle performance and low rate capability which are comparable to those of the freshsynthesized sample. This novel recycling technique can be of great value to the regeneration of a pure and marketable LiNi_xCo_yMn_(1-x-y)O_2 cathode material with low secondary pollution.

Deep structure of the Southeast Asian curved subduction system and its dynamic process

The deep structure,material circulation,and dynamic processes in the Southeast Asia have long been an elusive scientific puzzle due to the lack of systematic scientific observations and recognized theoretical models.Based on the deep seismic tomography using long-period natural earthquake data,in this study,the deep structure and material circulation of the curved subduction system in Southeast Asia was studied,and the dynamic processes since 100 million years ago was reconstructed.It is pointed out that challenges still exist in the precise reconstruction of deep mantle structures of the study area,the influence of multi-stage subduction on deep material exchange and shallow magma activity,as well as the spatiotemporal evolution and coupling mechanism of multi-plate convergence.Future work should focus on high-resolution land-sea joint 3-D seismic tomography imaging of the curved subduction system in the Southeast Asia,combined with geochemical analysis and geodynamic modelling works.

Bird’s-eye view of recycled solid wastes in road engineering

Recent trends in road engineering have explored the potential of incorporating recycled solid wastes into infrastructures that including pavements,bridges,tunnels,and accessory structures.The utilization of solid wastes is expected to offer sustainable solutions to waste recycling while enhancing the performance of roads.This review provides an extensive analysis of the recycling of three main types of solid wastes for road engineering purposes:industrial solid waste,infrastructure solid waste,and municipal life solid waste.Industrial solid wastes suitable for road engineering generally include coal gangue,fly ash,blast furnace slag,silica fume,and steel slag,etc.Infrastructure solid wastes recycled in road engineering primarily consist of construction&demolition waste,reclaimed asphalt pavements,and recycled cement concrete.Furthermore,recent exploration has extended to the utilization of municipal life solid wastes,such as incinerated bottom ash,glass waste,electronics waste,plastic waste,and rubber waste in road engineering applications.These recycled solid wastes are categorized into solid waste aggregates,solid waste cements,and solid waste fillers,each playing distinct roles in road infrastructure.Roles of solid waste acting aggregates,cements,and fillers in road infrastructures were fully investigated,including their pozzolanic properties,integration effects to virgin materials,modification or enhancement solutions,engineering performances.Utilization of these materials not only addresses the challenge of waste management but also offers environmental benefits aiming carbon neutral and contributes to sustainable infrastructure development.However,challenges such as variability in material properties,environmental impact mitigation,secondary pollution to environment by leaching,and concerns regarding long-term performance need to be further addressed.Despite these challenges,the recycled solid wastes hold immense potential in revolutionizing road construction practices and fostering environmental stewardship.This review delves into a bird’seye view of the utilization of recycled solid wastes in road engineering,highlighting advances,benefits,challenges,and future prospects.

Control of Pavement-Surface Temperature-Rise Using Recycled Materials

High temperatures of the asphalt concrete pavements in summer contribute to the heat island phenomenon in the urban areas. The effective cool-pavement technologies are sought to mitigate the pavement environment. In this paper, developed heat-reflective pavements are constructed from open-graded asphalt concrete, in which voids in the upper part of the pavement are filled with a cement mortar, containing recycled materials as a fine aggregate. The recycled materials used in this study are： crushed oyster shells, roof tile debris, pottery debris, glass cullet, crushed escallops and coral sand. The temperature reduction of the pavement surfaces at an open site is measured in the summer. The results show that the maximum surface temperature of the pavements falls by approximately 8-10 ℃ compared to the asphalt concrete pavement. Furthermore, it is found that the temperature reduction is mainly due to the increased solar radiation reflectance of the pavement surface.

Ophiolites as Archives of Recycled Crustal Material Residing in the Deep Mantle

Deeply subducted lithospheric slabs may reach to the mantle transition zone(MTZ,410-660 km depth)or even to the core–mantle boundary(CMB)at depths of^2900km.Our knowledge of the fate of subducted surface material at the MTZ or near the CMB is poor and based mainly on the tomography data and laboratory experiments through indirect methods.Limited data come from the samples of deep mantle diamonds and their mineral inclusions obtained from kimberlites and associated rock assemblages in old cratons.We report in this presentation new data and observations from diamonds and other UHP minerals recovered from ophiolites that we consider as a new window into the life cycle of deeply subducted oceanic and continental crust.Ophiolites are fragments of ancient oceanic lithosphere tectonically accreted into continental margins,and many contain significant podiform chromitites.Our research team has investigated over the last 10 years ultrahigh-pressure and super-reducing mineral groups discovered in peridotites and/or chromitites of ophiolites around the world,including the Luobusa(Tibet),Ray-Iz(Polar Urals-Russia),and 12 other ophiolites from 8orogenic belts in 5 different countries(Albania,China,Myanmar,Russia,and Turkey).High-pressure minerals include diamond,coesite,pseudomorphic stishovite,qingsongite(BN)and Ca-Si perovskite,and the most important native and highly reduced minerals recovered to date include moissanite(Si C),Ni-Mn-Co alloys,Fe-Si and Fe-C phases.These mineral groups collectively confirm extremely high?pressures(300 km to≥660 km)and super-reducing conditions in their environment of formation in the mantle.All of the analyzed diamonds have unusually light carbon isotope compositions(δ13C=-28.7 to-18.3‰)and variable trace element contents that*d i stinguish them from most kimberlitic and UHPmetamorphic varieties.The presence of exsolution lamellae of diopside and coesite in some chromite grains suggests chromite crystallization depths around>380 km,near the mantle transition zone.The carbon isotopes and other features of the high-pressure and super-reduced mineral groups point to previously subducted surface material as their source of origin.Recycling of subducted crust in the deep mantle may proceed in three stages:Stage 1–Carbon-bearing fluids and melts may have been formed in the MTZ,in the lower mantle or even near the CMB.Stage 2–Fluids or melts may rise along with deep plumes through the lower mantle and reach the MTZ.Some minerals,such as diamond,stishovite,qingsongite and Ca-silicate perovskite can precipitate from these fluids or melts in the lower mantle during their ascent.Material transported to the MTZ would be mixed with highly reduced and UHP phases,presumably derived from zones with extremely low f O2,as required for the formation of moissanite and other native elements.Stage 3–Continued ascent above the transition of peridotites containing chromite and ultrahigh-pressure minerals transports them to shallow mantle depths,where they participate in decompressional partial melting and oceanic lithosphere formation.The widespread occurrence of ophiolite-hosted diamonds and associated UHP mineral groups suggests that they may be a common feature of in-situ oceanic mantle.Because mid-ocean ridge spreading environments are plate boundaries widely distributed around the globe,and because the magmatic accretion of oceanic plates occurs mainly along these ridges,the on-land remnants of ancient oceanic lithosphere produced at former mid-ocean ridges provide an important window into the Earth’s recycling system and a great opportunity to probe the nature of deeply recycled crustal material residing in the deep mantle

Green Cementitious Paste Based on Recycled Materials

Cementitious alkali activated aluminosilicates pastes were produced from recycled and locally obtainable materials in Iraq. The compositions were based on recycled bricks, water glass, commercial caustic soda flakes, and nano silica. The nano silica was prepared from the abundant local ＂Iraqi anber＂ rice husks and added to the prepared pastes in different weight percentages. Another set of pastes was prepared via adding 5w% of＂A1-Najaf＇ fly ash at the expense of the recycled bricks powders. The pastes were cured for 1-28 days under ambient conditions. The compressive strengths for the cured pastes were measured. In addition, the cured pastes were characterized via X-ray diffraction, FTIR, and optical microscopy. The addition of the nano silica and longer curing times improve the microstructure packing and thus increases the compressive strengths. The added fly ash impregnates the microstructure with extra gel phase and further improves the compressive strengths of the cured pastes.

Design Details of Low-Energy and Passive Houses Using Composites from Waste Raw Materials

The article deals with potential use of waste materials in construction industry, specifically use of high density polyethylene （HDPE）. The article is focused in particular on recycled polyethylene application in products designed for construction industry, especially for passive houses. Currently certain building details of passive houses are not perfect or their solution results in higher economic demands related to house purchase and its further use. For the purpose of this thesis details of windows installation in external walls and elimination of thermal bridges in wall footing have been chosen. Products were subject to mathematic modelling of thermal technique and statics. The executed mathematic models documented that products are fully functional and that the suggested product successfully eliminate insufficiencies of some currently applied solutions.

Experimental study on countermeasure against liquefaction-induced flotation of manhole using recycled materials packed in sandbags

The 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu earthquake in Japan caused serious damage to sewage facilities such as uplift of manholes and settlement of pavement above backfill soil for pipes.This paper deals with shake table tests in a 1 g gravity field on application of recycled materials for ground improvement to mitigation of liquefaction-induced flotation of manhole during earthquakes.The recycled materials used in tests were tire chips made of waste tires and crushed gravels made of waste reinforced concrete,and they were packed in sandbags.From the test results,it was confirmed that the recycled materials packed in sandbags could be treated as one of the countermeasures to restrain the flotation of manholes and settlement of ground surrounded by sandbags.

A research of material input and environmental impact for Chinese economy:1990-2005

The process of economic activities is on the basis of tremendous material inputs.China has been discharging an enormous amount of waste,giving rise to a wide range of environmental impacts.The method of economy-wide material flow analysis(EW-MFA)is one of the effective tools to examine the flow of materials entering physical economies,and recognize early environmental problems.Relevant researches are still at the early stage in China and most focus on material throughput but are rarely concerned about the utilization of recycling resource and environmental impact.Based on more than 3,000 items of data related,materials entering Chinese economy are classified into three types,and then the characteristics of material input and environmental impact are presented for the years 1990-2005 by using the indicators derived from EW-MFA.The Ratio of Recycled Material(RRM) is added as the new indicator in order to be in accordance with the need of circular economy being promoted in China.Results show that the great changes in the structure of material input cause the continuous increase of industrial solid waste emissions and the bogging down of material productivity.The RRM reveals that the utilization of recycling resources remains at a fairly low level in China.Finally,some weakness of EW-MFA is discussed according to the calculated results.

Recyclable Polypropylene-based Insulation Materials for HVDC Cables:Progress and Perspective

Polypropylene(PP)-based recyclable materials have attracted tremendous interest for HVDC cable insulation applications due to their superior electrical properties,e.g.,high thermal stability and superior recyclability.Compared with crosslinked polyethylene(XLPE),PP-based materials exhibit the advantages of not only higher working temperatures but also facile and efficient cable manufacturing with reduced costs,which are highly desirable in HVDC cable manufacturing.Considering their promising advantages,PP-based materials have received significant attention from both academia and industry in the field of HVDC cable insulation.In order to adopt PP as a cable insulation material,the mechanical flexibility of PP should be improved.However,regulations of the mechanical properties inevitably influences the electrical properties of PP.So extensive research has been conducted on the regulation of the mechanical and electrical properties of PP.This review summarizes the research progress on recyclable PP-based materials for HVDC cable insulation applications.Particular attention is placed on the electrical property regulations and material structure-property relationships.The challenges that remain to be addressed and the opportunities for future studies on PP-based recyclable HVDC cable insulation materials are also presented.

Some Problems of Recycling Industrial Materials

The industrial system should learn from the natural ecosystem. The resource utilization efficiency should be increased and the environmental load should be decreased, depending on the materials recycled in the system. The classification of industrial materials from the viewpoint of large-scale recycling was stated. Recycling of materials, on three different levels, was introduced in the industrial system. The metal flow diagram in the life cycle of products, in the case of no materials recycled, materials partially recycled, and materials completely recycled, was given. The natural resource conservation and the waste emission reduction were analyzed under the condition of materials completely recycled. The expressions for the relation between resource efficiency and material recycling rate, and the relation between eco-efficiency and material recycling rate were derived, and the curves describing the relationship between them were protracted. The diagram of iron flow in the life cycle of iron and steel products in China, in 2001, was given, and the iron resource efficiency, material recycling rate, and iron eco-efficiency were analyzed. The variation of iron resource efficiency with the material recycling rate was analyzed for two different production ratios.

Continuous Preparation of Chitosan‑Based Self‑Powered Sensing Fibers Recycled from Wasted Materials for Smart Home Applications

Currently,the gradual depletion of fossil resources and the large amount of plastic waste are causing serious harm to the land and marine ecology.The rapid development of wearable smart fibers is accompanied by rapid growth in the material demand for fibers,and the development of green and high-performance biomass-based fibers has become an important research topic to reduce the dependence on synthetic fiber materials and the harm to the environment.Here,chitosan is first prepared from the waste material by chemical methods.Then the chitosan-based self-powered induction fibers are prepared by electrospinning core wire technique.Chitosan-based self-powered sensing fiber is ultra-light and flexible,which can achieve about 2500 collisions without damaging the surface.Chitosan-based self-powered sensing fiber can also be used in smart home sensing applications to control home appliance switches with a light touch,which has a great application prospect in smart home and wearable fields.

Mn3O4/carbon nanotube nanocomposites recycled from waste alkaline Zn–MnO2 batteries as high-performance energy materials

Alkaline zinc manganese dioxide（Zn–MnO2）batteries are widely used in everyday life. Recycling of waste alkaline Zn–MnO2 batteries has always been a hot environmental concern. In this study, a simple and costeffective process for synthesizing Mn3O4/carbon nanotube（CNT） nanocomposites from recycled alkaline Zn–MnO2 batteries is presented. Manganese oxide was recovered from spent Zn–MnO2 battery cathodes. The Mn3O4/CNT nanocomposites were produced by ball milling the recovered manganese oxide in a commercial multi-wall carbon nanotubes（MWCNTs） solution. Scanning electron microscopy（SEM） analysis demonstrates that the nanocomposite has a unique three-dimensional（3D） bird nest structure. Mn3O4 nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed on MWCNT framework. Mn3O4/CNT nanocomposites were evaluated as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, exhibiting a highly reversible specific capacitance of -580 mA h·g^-1 after 100 cycles. Moreover, Mn3O4/CNT nanocomposite also shows a fairly positive onset potential of -0.15 V and quite high oxygen reducibility when considered as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction.

End-of-life batteries management and material flow analysis in South Korea

Consumers increasingly have worn-out batteries as electrical and electronic equipment with new technical developments are introduced into the market and quickly replace older models. As a result, large amounts of end-of-life （EOL） or waste batteries are generated. Such batteries may contain a variety of materials that includes valuable resources as well as toxic elements. Thus, the proper recycling and management of batteries is very important from the perspective of resource conservation and environmental effect. The collection and recycling of EOL batteries is relatively low in South Korea compared to other countries, although an extended producer responsibility （EPR） policy was adopted for battery recycling in 2003. In this study, the management and material flow of EOL batteries is presented to determine potential problems and quantitative flow, based on literature review, site visits to battery recycling facilities, and interviews with experts in the Korea Battery Recycling Association （KBRA）, manufacturers, and regulators in government. The results show that approximately 558 tons of manganese-alkaline batteries, the largest fraction among recycling target items, was disposed in landfills or incinerators in 2015, while approximately 2,000 tons of batteries were recovered at a recycling facility by simple sorting and crushing processes. By raising environmental awareness, more diverse and effective collection systems could be established for consumers to easily dispose of EOL batteries in many places. Producers, retailers and distributors in South Korea should also play an important role in the collection of EOL batteries from consumers. Lithium-ion batteries from many electronic devices must be included in the EPR system for resource recovery.

Recyclable thermally conductive poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)composites prepared via forced infiltration

With the rapid development of electronic equipment and communication technology,the demand for polymer composites with high thermal conductivity and mechanical properties has increased significantly.However,its nondegradable polymer matrix will inevitably bring more and more serious environmental pollution.Therefore,it is urgent to develop biodegradable thermally conductive polymer composites.In this work,biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-coterephthalate)(PBAT)is used as the matrix material,and vacuum-assisted filtration technology is employed to prepare carbon nanotube(CNT)and cellulose nanocrystal(CNC)networks with high thermal conductivity.Then CNT-CNC/PBAT composites with high thermal conductivity and excellent mechanical properties are prepared by the ultrasonic-assisted forced infiltration method.Both experiment and simulation methods are used to systematically investigate the thermally conductive and dissipation performances of the CNT-CNC/PBAT composites.Above all,a simple alcoholysis reaction is applied to realize the separation of the PBAT matrix and functional fillers without destroying the conductive network skeleton,which makes it possible for the recycling of thermally conductive polymer composites.

Polymeric Complex Nanoparticles Enable the Fabrication of Mechanically Superstrong and Recyclable Poly(aryl ether sulfone)-based Polymer Composites

It is a long-term pursuit,and also,a challenge to significantly improve the mechanical strength of thermoplastic polymers using readily dispersed polymers as nanofillers.In this study,we demonstrated that in situ formed carboxylic acid-functionalized poly(aryl ether sulfone)(PAES-COOH)/polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVPON)complex nanoparticles can significantly enhance the mechanical strength of PAES-COOH by mixing PAES-COOH with a small fraction of PVPON.The PAES-COOH/PVPON10%composite,which contained∼10 wt%PVPON,exhibited a tensile strength of∼104.8 MPa and Young’s modulus of∼932.2 MPa,which were∼2.0 and∼1.7 times higher than those of the PAES-COOH,respectively.The PAES-COOH/PVPON nanoparticles which were uniformly dispersed in PAES-COOH matrices and had strong hydrogen-bonding interactions with PAES-COOH,served as nanofillers to reinforce the mechanical strength of the PAES-COOH.The PAES-COOH/PVPON_(10%)composites possessed excellent solvent-assisted healability,and the fractured composites could be healed to restore their original mechanical strength.Meanwhile,the PAES-COOH/PVPON_(10%)composites could be recycled multiple times,and yet retained their shape integration and their original mechanical strength.