The market
The world market for cathodic materials was calculated in 2011 at 59,470 tonnes for a total value of sales of $ 600 million. Lithium demand increases at a rate of 30 % per year and should maintain this pace in the foreseeable future. Consequently, the prices of lithium in 2005, the main material of high density batteries, were limited to one dollar per kilogram and have since tense to reach 10,000 dollars per ton. Since the number of electric vehicles is expected to increase to 500,000 by 2015, the electrical energy base produced from batteries should be increased to 15 billion kWh/year. This exerts enormous pressure on the supply of materials. A small 5 kWh lithium battery for a compact car requires 300 grams of lithium for each kWh of storage capacity. However, a large SUV would use 3 kg of pure lithium per unit of power. Due to its high energy density, the whole world adopts lithium as a metal to supply all mobile devices. Laptops and most portable mobile devices represent the largest segment on the market despite their higher cost. However, the new emerging market is that of mobility and transport. Latin America controls approximately 80 % of world lithium reserves with Chile (3 million tonnes), Argentina (2 million tonnes), Bolivia (5.4 million tonnes) and Brazil (<1 million tons). China occupies the fourth row with 1.1 million tonnes. If the world brought oil against lithium, South America would become the new Middle East and Bolivia with its Uyuni salt marshes-a unique and old ecosystem-would be richer and politically more powerful than Saudi Arabia never been. The United States, Europe and Japan would again count on external sources while China could guarantee its self-sufficiency thanks to its own reserves. The largest producer of lithium is SQM in Chile with a production of 27,000 tonnes per year. The main local competitor is SCL (controlled by Chemetall from Germany) with an annual production of 14,000 tonnes. FMC Lithium in Argentina is competing with Admiralty Resources of Australia and Sterling Resources de China. Most of the future supply of lithium will have to come from savory lakes located on mountain ranges of 3,000 meters above sea level, where ecologically sensitive mining will be done in difficult conditions, at the risk of jeopardizing precious resources. The total absence of infrastructure and the strict rules in terms of investment in Bolivia and Argentina limit the traditional investment diagrams of multinational companies.
Innovation
Today, if the global car fleet of one billion vehicles is replaced at a rate of 60 million per year and if these vehicles were replaced by hybrid or electric battery (VE) vehicles, it is clear that it is 'There is not enough lithium available in the terrestrial bark to support the deployment of the VEs based on lithium batteries. Worse, in this replacement hypothesis, the rate of exhaustion of lithium minerals will exceed the current rates of exhaustion of oil and therefore the transition from one non -renewable resource to another does not solve the problem of fuel for mobility, And even the balance sheet of carbon emissions with exploitation and treatment as is currently the case remains questionable. Znair and Nanicl alternative battery technologies are not as limited in resources but do not offer the performance sought by industry. Grzegorz Milczarek was born in Gostynin, near Warsaw, the capital of Poland. His passion for sciences in general and chemistry in particular appeared from primary school. He liked to play with burst pistols and explode firecrackers and wondered about the forces that created these noises. His desire to understand the explosives led him to specialize in chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry and Technical Electrochemistry of the Technical University of Poznan where he obtained his master's degree in 1994. After a period of intensive research, Grzegorz Superbly supported his thesis on modified electrodes and obtained a doctorate in 1999. Research also brought him for two years in Japan. A few months ago, he was elected vice-dean of the faculty after he and his colleagues published a surprising article in Science Magazine (March 23, 2012) which-translated in simple terms-offered wooden batteries. Grzegorz and Olle Inganäs, his colleague from the Physics Department, Chemistry and Biology of the University of Linköping (Sweden) studied the potential use of brown liqueur, the waste of paper treatment. This chemical mixture of sulfites, lignin and hemicellulose is often burned to produce steam. However, taking into account the volumes and residual waste flows after incineration, the team looked for more added value applications beyond electricity and heat. Grzegorz was inspired by photosynthesis and studied with the team how lignin could be transformed into electricity conductive molecules which transport electrons as certain molecules do during photosynthesis. By putting the mud in a driver's polymer, they created an inexpensive cathode capable of supporting a load. This has remarkably worked well. Olle and Grzegorz then created a prototype that continued to discharge when the battery was not used. It was necessary to correct this situation and they managed to find a way to solve this problem. The team believes that it is capable of transforming lignin to create a low -cost renewable battery, thus creating a second source of income from the transformation of wood into paper - a battery made mainly from wooden residues which is today hui a waste in abundance. It looks like a typical approach to the blue economy.
The first cash flow
Inventors want to store renewable electricity where it is produced, without the expensive network. Now that solar technologies are reaching a competitive cost (cases 53), the key to success is to design new energy storage systems based on inexpensive and renewable raw materials, thus avoiding new mining needs. The key to success was the design of this thin film of 0.5 micron produced by the Polono-Swedish team from a mixture of lignine derivatives extracted from brown liqueur. As lignin constitutes 20 to 30 % of the biomass of a tree and is currently rejected in the paper manufacturing process, it is an inexhaustible source, which relieves pressure on lithium resources that decrease. Olle and Grzegorz then patented their prototype of two square centimeters. However, they quickly realized that the design of the cathode is only half of the solution for a brand new battery concept. They must also redraw the anode. A team made up of doctoral students works on how to obtain a complete concept. The vision is to have a fully renewable battery. Meanwhile, they are trying a fully recyclable polymer known as Polypyrrole, a 100 % recyclable oil derivative that has been known to industry for more than three decades.
The opportunity
Grzegorz does not limit his creative spirit in the world of batteries. He sees multiple possibilities for the use of residual lignin, demonstrating multiple income and advantages from a single renewable material put in the rebuilding. He successfully designed a chemical sensor made from pure lignin extracted from the same black liquor. This fast and inexpensive sensor measures glucose in the blood of diabetic patients. Their creative research also focuses on new knowledge on the immune system of plants which open a large platform for multiple uses for one of the most abundant renewable resources on the planet which remains unused in our industrialized society and which does not generate the added value, the job (s) it could offer. Now that the first part of the product design has been successfully completed, it is time for some visionary entrepreneurs to embark on the development of a brand new battery concept and put the sensors on the market. The paper and paper pulp industry could even be the first to benefit from it during this period when consumption decreases and when the recycling of paper reaches its limits.
