New Process Transforms Lithium Battery Recycling

New Process Transforms Lithium Battery Recycling New Process Transforms Lithium Battery Recycling New Process Transforms Lithium Battery RecyclingResearchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have received a $1-million contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), a collaborative organization of FCA US, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors, to further develop and scale-up a novel process that WPI developed for recycling lithium-ion batteries.Led by Yan Wang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at WPI, director of the Electrochemical Energy Laboratory, and affiliated faculty member in the Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling, the research team developed a process that can recover any cathode chemistry, with no battery sorting required. This is a vast improvement over the current approach, which involves sorting the batteries by cathode chemistry to avoid mixing incompatible formulations. This labor-intensive and expensive process is c omplicated by the difficulty of determining the exact material used in a given battery. Wangs process saves considerable time and labor, making wide-scale recycling of lithium-ion batteries more feasible and profitable.Prof. Yan Wang with a battery recycling reactor. Image Worcester Polytechnic InstituteHow It WorksBatteries are among the costliest components of electric and hybrid vehicles, says Wang. If we can reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries using our process, while still recovering and reusing large amounts of materials that are currently being thrown away, we can offer a value-driven path toward improved industry sustainability.Wangs recycling process is a closed loop. The first step is fully discharging the batteries and shredding them into small pieces. A sieving process recovers the fine and coarse powders, which include the cathode materials. The powders are chemically leached to recover the lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel used in the cathodes. After leaching , the pH of the solution can be adjusted to remove the impurities and then precipitate out new cathode materials with specific compositions, based on industry needs.In plus-rechnen to recovering cathode materials, we also recycle steel, copper, aluminum, graphite and most of the materials used in the batteries, says Wang. We can recycle up to 80 percent of the cathode materials from unsorted batteries using this process.Moving ForwardThe rechargeable lithium-ion battery market was $11.8 billion in 2011 and is expected to increase to $50 billion by 2020. With rapid growth in the consumer electronics and hybrid and electric vehicle markets, lithium-ion batteries will only grow in demand. However, currently they are not widely recycled because it is not economically justifiable instead they are thrown away and add to the toxicity of landfills.Wangs process, however, dramatically improves the economics of recycling lithium-ion batteries.When we first started this research a few years ag o, many researchers didnt care much about recycling, say Wang. They argued that there werent enough lithium-ion batteries to be recycled and it wasnt economical to recycle them. The basic thought was that this research would only be important in the future. Now, though, people are changing their minds. They know that lithium-ion battery recycling is critical. And, fortunately, now we have the solution.The United States Advanced Battery Consortium will finance the scale-up of the process from the current lab scale, which produces coin cells, to a larger process that will be validated using 25 Ah cells made by a world-class battery manufacturer under subcontract to WPI. Wangs research has shown that his recycling process could cut the cost of cathode materials for vehicle batteries by more than 30 percent.Cathodes are increasingly made from mixed materials, which makes it very difficult for recyclers to process them because they dont know the cathode chemistry. Thats the main reason U SABC chose our recycling process, says Wang. With our closed-loop process, we can extract the cathode materials and put them right back into new batteries that are equal in quality to the original batteries. And our final product is highly valuable cathode material that can be used to make new batteries. We now have the ability to recycle these valuable materials and keep them out of the waste stream.Mark Crawford is an independent writer.Learn about the latest energy solutions at ASMEsPower Energy Conference and Exhibition.We can recycle up to 80 percent of the cathode materials from unsorted lithium-ion batteries using this new process.Prof. Yan Wang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Heres how to get more out of every networking event

Heres how to get more out of every networking eventHeres how to get more out of every networking eventBuy tickets to a networking event. Get tzu siche, buckled up for a cookie-cutter experience of going from one panel to the next. Only talk to other attendees during breaks and cocktail receptions, then rush to the next session.Instead of doing the same thing you always do, wed like to call your attention to a piece Humanyze CEO and co-founder andMIT Media Lab visiting scientist Ben Waber, PhDwrote for Quartz at Work about his approach to networking.Unimpressed by a Fortune 100 CEOs talk that he was looking forward to at a conference, he had a conversation with someone feeling the same way afterward - someone, as it turns out, who became a future client.Waber notes that the chance to connect with and be of tafelgeschirr to others who are like-minded is the most crucial part of behauptung events, as opposed to the content. Then he writes that at another conference, which was wasnt as long ago, he spent 12 hours going to talks all around the area, taking a small shuttle to each location. He decided to talk to a fellow rider every time.So the following day, he just rode around instead of going to talks - and met dozens of people, some of whom have helped his career.With Wabers example in mind, here are some strategies could help you stand out for all the right reasons when everyone is trying to make a name for themselves at conferences and networking events.Take a page out of Wabers bookYes, we know Youre most likely paying good money to learn from the featured panelists at conferences, but that doesnt mean there isnt room for more innovative approaches for getting what you want from the total experience.So do as Waber says he did, and have the guts to say no to talks, so you can spend more time getting to know other attendees instead.As you go to conferences, try to create these opportunities for yourself. Skip a speaker session and instead resolve to talk to on e new person every 15 minutes, Waber writes. Hang out by the coffee pot and strike up a conversation. While you cant be assured that every one of these conversations will be useful to you both, chances are itll be more valuable than going to a talk that youll forget in a few weeks.Reach out on social media beforehandI tried this once and it really worked in my favor.One summer, just before attending a conference for my four-summer internship program at CNBC through The Emma Bowen Foundation, I reached out via Twitter to speakers on the roster.While asking a question at the microphone during a panel with a CNBC media personality I reached out to, I introduced myself to her, and she announced that shed remembered me from Twitter.Wed never met, so I gave her my business card afterward during our conversation, and Ive considered her a mentor ever since. I shadowed her in the field on multiple occasions during my internships at CNBC, and we still keep in contact.Use a compliment as an ic ebreaker - but mean itThis just might break you out of your comfort zone.U.S. News World Report staff writer Laura McMullen features icebreakers from Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of The 11 Laws of Likability and CEO of the professional development firm Executive Essentials, among others, in the publication.One of them is great shoesIf you notice something you admire about these new contacts tell them (Who doesnt like receiving a compliment?), McMullen writes.

What To Know When You Start Working for a Painting Contractor Company

What To Know When You Start Working for a Painting Contractor CompanyWhat To Know When You Start Working for a Painting Contractor CompanyThis isnt my usual type of post, and I am leid an expert on the subject, but I have a friend who is getting his home painted, and it reminds me of the time I hired a painting contractor for my own apartment. I only learned afterward how little the workers (the actual painters) knew about painting and how little they probably knew about the contractor they were working for.Since working for a house painting company is a great way to bring in some extra money, Im writing this to at least clue in anyone who is thinking about this kind of work for the first time. AND I hope that any contractor who reads this will just maybe think about his workers, and how to make the work sweeter for both of themWhat I learned from my painting contractor My friends contractor was especially happy to get the job, since he says it means his workers will have extra mone y for the holidays. The contractor I hired a few years ago took most of the money himselfThe way he worked the deal, he charged me $25/hr (not all that unreasonable where I live for a good painter), and made it seem like he or a senior supervisor would be on the premises all the time. They werent.He also made it seem like he had experienced painters. But he got the guys he sent me off of Craigslist he didnt even train them. And he gave them only $10/hr, pocketing the other $15/hr for himself, even though he pretty much left them on their own. He told me all this after the job was done when I was making him give me back some money for the shoddy workmanship.What a painter should probably know I understand that when you need work, you worry that asking too many questions or seeming too pushy can lose you the job. And sometimes it can. But there are some basic things that can hopefully help improve the quality of the experience from all endsIf there is a way for you to ask directly o r snoop around, knowing how much the contractor charges might help you negotiate your own portion especially if you are really good at what you do or willing to take on some supervisory responsibilities. Always helps to know if there is wiggle room, or if he (or she) is cutting it close on their share.Make sure you find out exactly what the contractor promised the customer. If the customer thinks they are getting ALL cracks and holes repaired, and you were just told to just fix some of them and then start painting, that can cause a huge problem.Make sure you know how long the customer thinks the job should take, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Again, sometimes a promise is made that workers are unable to live up to and they get to deal with yelling customers.Makes sure you have enough ventilation for yourself while working, even with non-toxic paint. And, since you are using your arm and other muscles in a repetitive manner, take short but frequent stretch breaks.That said, if you are scheduled to start at 9am each day, even without a supervisor, dont take a whole hour to set up so that the customer walks in on you at 10am just hanging out and talking (each day) with the half-hour prep work still not done. Breaks are important, but remember how unsettling and costly this is to a customer.BEFORE you start painting, go over the repairs and make sure the customer is satisfied with the condition, so that you wont have to keep going back and repairing once youre in the painting stage.Ask the contractor for painting tips. Dont be shy or worry about appearing stupid. If the person is experienced in the business, there are some basics that will help make you both look great.Direction of the paint brush stroke (depending on type of paint, I think, different-direction strokes can show)Evenness and smoothness of the roller and / or paint brush techniqueHow to use painters tape the right way (you can also google some of this)Any other professional tricks tips the y can offer youBe aware of and smooth out any drips or thicker globs as you paint.Check for unpainted or sparsely-painted sections, especially when the cousine coat and top coat are almost the same color.Make sure that the trim is all the right color finish, especially if you are dealing with similar shades.Check where paint got to places it shouldnt be, including where walls meet meet ceiling and trimAfter its done, either you or the contractor should go over the paint job with the customer, for any last touches or to correct mistakes. Not only does this help spot things you might have missed, it helps involve the customer so they are part of the final closing phase.And remember that, in addition to the actual paint job, a careful clean-up leaves a great last impression. For extra points, the contractor should offer the customer a chance to live with it a day or two, so they can discover anything that was not done well. Sometimes a customer is so happy its done, their brain doesnt engage fully. A good contractor should make some room for that without opening the door to forever repairs, of courseA few closing thoughts As I said, Im not an expert. These are just my thoughts. I hope some of them help. And, despite my experience, there are really good contractors out there to work for. But I know there are also many like the one I had, who was a charming guy and even had some good Yelp reviews.Taking this kind of work can be a good way to make extra money or a decent living if you cut the right deal. Even better if you and your contractor discover the fine art of creating a mutually-enjoyable, working relationship with each other AND the customer.Open, respectful communication at all levels can make your days feel more enjoyable, leave customers more satisfied, and get your boss more referrals, which are the heart of the business. You may even wind up starting your own painting contractor business one day hopefully as one of the good guysPlease feel free to add your own tips to help workers and maybe even make for better painting contractors.Happy paintingSome more posts you might enjoy? Freelancer Tips Does Charging the Highest Rate Always Pay Off?? Are Online Degrees Really Worth Your Time and Money?? College Career Tips What To Do Now To Help Create Career Success? Does a GED Diploma Really Open Doors to Jobs and College? ? Whats the Right Career for Me Career Quiz? Career Success How Do You Measure Your Own Career Success?? 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