cool Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Packing peanuts are used worldwide as a perfect solution for shipping, they are notoriously difficult to break down, and only about 10 percent are recycled. Due to their low density, huge containers are required for transportation and shipment to a recycler, which is expensive and does not provide much profit on investment.A team of chemical engineers at Purdue University have shown now how to convert waste packing peanuts into high-performance carbon electrodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that outperform conventional graphite electrodes, representing an environmentally friendly approach to reuse the waste. New approach: The new method is a very simple. The peanuts are heated between 500 and 900 degrees Celsius in a furnace under inert atmosphere in the presence or absence of a transition metal salt catalyst.The resulting material is then processed into the anodes.The process is inexpensive. Commercial anode particles are about 10 times thicker than the new anodes and have higher electrical resistance, which increase charging time. Detailed information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrP Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 I once recycled a load of them by dissolving them up into a solvent to make a thick viscous glue / poly cement. I tried it again recently but it did not work as the polystyrene had some additive in it that wasn't soluble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Above technologu they heated it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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