The demand for batteries continues to increase as the transition to electric vehicles begins. Even though EV's are said to be more eco-friendly, both the materials used in their batteries and the way they're recycled has raised questions oversustainability.
Stora Enso, one of the world's largest owners of private forest, has hired engineers to explore the use of a tree-derived material as a key ingredient in batteries.
The flow of charged particles called ion can be accomplished by the use of a battery's anodes and cathodes. When a battery is charged, the ion are stored in the anode and released through the cathode. Lignin contains carbon, so it could be used to form the anode of a battery.
The heating of carbon for weeks at a time is a very energy intensive process that is used to make synthetic Graphite.
Stora Enso's "Lignode" solution might be using the lignin recovered from the waste that's been made into paper and wood products.
One upside is that this approach, in theory, wouldn't require additional trees to be cut down, so long as the company's practices are one-hundred percent sustainable.
The head of Lignode claims that heating the lignin into a carbon structure saves energy.
Even if lignin is what Stora Enso makes it out to be, it may not be able to compete with the other materials that are already used.
"I just don't think it's going to be a big enough step- change in terms of cost or performance to replace the entrenched graphite," said Tenhaeff, a professor of chemical engineering.
Lignin can be used to make anodes at a lower cost and Tenhaeff thinks it's really cool.
A startup claims to be building a giant CO2 battery in the US.
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