BlueSky Solutions Experiences a Fire
At BlueSky Solutions, a North Carolina e-scrap recycler, an incident involving lithium button cell batteries caused a small fire. To alleviate the possibility of similar occurrences in the future, alterations to the firm’s standard workflow have been implemented.
In an interview with E-Scrap News, the director of business operations at BlueSky Solutions, Guy Caprioli, disclosed that on April 17th a fire was sparked by an isolated battery staging zone containing around 14 pounds of lithium primary button cell batteries. Fortunately, this limited the severity of damage caused by the flames.
A Small Error Results in a Fire
Before circuit boards are transported for recycling, the batteries must be extracted. As outlined by Caprioli, the circuit boards are immersed in 5-gallon containers of mineral oil, as an added safety measure, and then stowed away in a designated shipping container in the parking lot.
However, Caprioli reported that on the day of the fire, a few of the batteries had been removed and put in a “staging area” without being put into mineral oil, a step which is usually taken care of by another team. Caprioli believed that some of these cells may have endured physical harm which caused them to gradually reach a higher temperature.
“The root cause was the delay in getting the primary batteries into 5-gallon buckets of mineral oil because of all the additional workflow steps involved in the [standard operating procedure],” Caprioli said.
“We have updated our workflow so that all lithium primary button cell batteries collected during the day are packaged in mineral oil by the end of the workday.”
How Lithium-Ion Battery Fires Begin
Batteries have become an integral component of most electronic devices, yet, these small power units create a considerable hazard for processors. Often retaining a charge even after being discarded, lithium-ion batteries can become disrupted when jostled, which can lead to a process known as “thermal runaway.” This phenomenon creates self-heating, which then releases all energy stored inside the battery.
This topic was discussed in last year’s annual presentation by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“If spotted in the separation process, LIBs will be taken out of the MRF and sent to a specialty recycler or landfill,” researchers wrote. “If LIBs go unnoticed, they may become damaged by the sorting process.”
“Conveyor belts may then send smoldering batteries throughout the facility unless the belts are stopped,” a report explained. “Furthermore, MRFs are full of flammable material. When fires do start, they may spread quickly due to the large amounts of paper and cardboard present.”
“Russian Roulette of Chaos”
Lithium-ion batteries have recently been identified as the source of several fires across America, leading to a dangerous reputation described by Caprioli as the “Russian Roulette of chaos.”
Thermal runaway can easily cause destructive fires, especially when it takes place at a material recovery facility (MRF), with floors filled with combustible fiber materials.
This risk was demonstrated in another notable instance where a MRF in California suffered damage amounting to $8.5 million due to fire destruction. Consequently, this catastrophe spurred its operator to describe lithium-ion battery fires as an “existential threat” for municipal recycling plants.
A Revised Workflow as a Preventative Measure
“Even a small amount of lithium primary batteries can have a big impact,” Caprioli said. “It’s important to keep them in an isolated area in case situations like this happen. We used to tape these types of primary batteries but moved to storing them directly in buckets of mineral oil out of an abundance of caution.”
Caprioli pointed out that there is no way to fully eliminate risk, but “having solid practices will go a long way.” This, he explains, is why the firm has revised its workflow.
“This is the type of scenario we try to plan for, but you can never take too many precautions when dealing with primary batteries,” Caprioli said.
Ideally, with new processes in place, BlueSky Solutions will never encounter a battery fire again.
