Challenges in Ecofriendly Battery Recycling and Closed Material Cycles: A Perspective on Future Lithium Battery Generations

The global use of lithium-ion batteries of all types has been increasing at a rapid pace for many years. In order to achieve the goal of an economical and sustainable battery industry, the recycling and recirculation of materials is a central element on this path. As the achievement of high 95% recovery rates demanded by the European Union for some metals from today’s lithium ion batteries is already very challenging, the question arises of how the process chains and safety of battery recycling as well as the achievement of closed material cycles are affected by the new lithium battery generations, which are supposed to enter the market in the next 5 to 10 years. Based on a survey of the potential development of battery technology in the next years, where a diversification between high-performance and cost-efficient batteries is expected, and today’s knowledge on recycling, the challenges and chances of the new battery generations regarding the development of recycling processes, hazards in battery dismantling and recycling, as well as establishing a circular economy are discussed. It becomes clear that the diversification and new developments demand a proper separation of battery types before recycling, for example by a transnational network of dismantling and sorting locations, and flexible and high sophisticated recycling processes with case-wise higher safety standards than today. Moreover, for the low-cost batteries, recycling of the batteries becomes economically unattractive, so legal stipulations become important. However, in general, it must be still secured that closing the material cycle for all battery types with suitable processes is achieved to secure the supply of raw materials and also to further advance new developments

Development of a New Procedure for Nail Penetration of Lithium-Ion Cells to Obtain Meaningful and Reproducible Results

Internal short circuit tests of Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs) are used to test battery safety behavior in a custom made battery cell stressing chamber. However, systematic investigations regarding the test setup and test procedure are rare. In our research commercially available pouch cells (5 Ah) are employed for the method development and validation of nail penetration tests including measurement of gaseous reaction products. The effects of the thermal insulation material, the nail material (conductive and non-conductive), the influence of the penetration depth and the nail velocity were examined. It was observed that low penetration velocities (1 mm s−1) in combination with a conductive nail and a nail motion control, which is based on monitoring the temporal evaluation of the cell voltage change, provide the most promising results in terms of reproducibility at low standard deviation. By applying this method, only the energy required for a Thermal Runaway (TR) is released, which makes it possible to determine a novel key value for the assessment of battery safety. Based on this, a proposal has been made for a nail penetration test method which would allow the results to be compared between different test facilities

Reconstruction of sea surface temperature variations in the Arabian Sea over the last 23 kyr using organic proxies (TEX86 and U37K')

Two sediment cores from the western Arabian Sea, NIOP905 and 74KL, were analyzed to determine sea surface temperature (SST) variations over the last 23 kyr. Two organic molecular SST proxies were used, the well-established U37K' based on long-chain unsaturated ketones synthesized by haptophyte algae and the newly proposed TEX86 derived from the membrane lipids of Crenarchaeota. Comparison of NIOP905 and 74KL core top data with present-day SST (0-10 m) values indicates that both proxies yield temperatures similar to local annual mean SSTs. However, TEX86 and U37K' SST down-core records derived from the same cores differ in magnitude and phasing. The alkenone SST record of NIOP905 shows small changes in SST (∼0.5°C) over the last 23 kyr, while that of core 74KL shows a ∼2°C increase from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (23-19 calendar (cal) kyr B.P.) through the Holocene (the last 11.5 cal kyr B.P.) synchronous with changes in the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast, the TEX86 records of both cores show a large increase in SST from 22°-23°C in the LGM to 28°-30°C during Termination I (19-11.5 cal kyr B.P.), decreasing to present-day annual means of ∼26°C. A cold phase between 14.5 and 12 cal kyr B.P. that may correspond to the Antarctic cold reversal is also observed. This implies a Southern Hemisphere control on tropical SST reconstructed by the TEX86, possibly related to SW monsoon. Our results suggest that the application of both TEX86 and U37K' give different but complementary information on SST developments in past marine environments

Genome-Wide Copy Number Variation in Epilepsy: Novel Susceptibility Loci in Idiopathic Generalized and Focal Epilepsies

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in humans with a prevalence of 1% and a lifetime incidence of 3%. Several genes have been identified in rare autosomal dominant and severe sporadic forms of epilepsy, but the genetic cause is unknown in the vast majority of cases. Copy number variants (CNVs) are known to play an important role in the genetic etiology of many neurodevelopmental disorders, including intellectual disability (ID), autism, and schizophrenia. Genome-wide studies of copy number variation in epilepsy have not been performed. We have applied whole-genome oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization to a cohort of 517 individuals with various idiopathic, non-lesional epilepsies. We detected one or more rare genic CNVs in 8.9% of affected individuals that are not present in 2,493 controls; five individuals had two rare CNVs. We identified CNVs in genes previously implicated in other neurodevelopmental disorders, including two deletions in AUTS2 and one deletion in CNTNAP2. Therefore, our findings indicate that rare CNVs are likely to contribute to a broad range of generalized and focal epilepsies. In addition, we find that 2.9% of patients carry deletions at 15q11.2, 15q13.3, or 16p13.11, genomic hotspots previously associated with ID, autism, or schizophrenia. In summary, our findings suggest common etiological factors for seemingly diverse diseases such as ID, autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy

Genomic and transcriptomic changes complement each other in the pathogenesis of sporadic Burkitt lymphoma

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the most common B-cell lymphoma in children. Within the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), we performed whole genome and transcriptome sequencing of 39 sporadic BL. Here, we unravel interaction of structural, mutational, and transcriptional changes, which contribute to MYC oncogene dysregulation together with the pathognomonic IG-MYC translocation. Moreover, by mapping IGH translocation breakpoints, we provide evidence that the precursor of at least a subset of BL is a B-cell poised to express IGHA. We describe the landscape of mutations, structural variants, and mutational processes, and identified a series of driver genes in the pathogenesis of BL, which can be targeted by various mechanisms, including IG-non MYC translocations, germline and somatic mutations, fusion transcripts, and alternative splicing

The genomic and transcriptional landscape of primary central nervous system lymphoma

Primary lymphomas of the central nervous system (PCNSL) are mainly diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) confined to the central nervous system (CNS). Molecular drivers of PCNSL have not been fully elucidated. Here, we profile and compare the whole-genome and transcriptome landscape of 51 CNS lymphomas (CNSL) to 39 follicular lymphoma and 36 DLBCL cases outside the CNS. We find recurrent mutations in JAK-STAT, NFkB, and B-cell receptor signaling pathways, including hallmark mutations in MYD88 L265P (67%) and CD79B (63%), and CDKN2A deletions (83%). PCNSLs exhibit significantly more focal deletions of HLA-D (6p21) locus as a potential mechanism of immune evasion. Mutational signatures correlating with DNA replication and mitosis are significantly enriched in PCNSL. TERT gene expression is significantly higher in PCNSL compared to activated B-cell (ABC)-DLBCL. Transcriptome analysis clearly distinguishes PCNSL and systemic DLBCL into distinct molecular subtypes. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)+ CNSL cases lack recurrent mutational hotspots apart from IG and HLA-DRB loci. We show that PCNSL can be clearly distinguished from DLBCL, having distinct expression profiles, IG expression and translocation patterns, as well as specific combinations of genetic alterations