Pencemaran Air dari bateri Lithium Peranti Canggih
Lithium from electronic
waste can contaminate water supply
Lithium from batteries that power
smartphones, tablets and electric cars may contaminate tap water, a Korean
study suggests.
Drinking water can contain a little lithium
because the mineral occurs naturally in the Earth's crust and in soil and
bodies of water. But even with the rapid rise of consumer electronics powered
by lithium batteries in recent years, research to date hasn't offered a clear
picture of how much production and disposal of these products might increase
lithium levels in drinking water, the study team notes in Nature
Communications.
For the current study, researchers tested
water from the Han river where it runs through Seoul as well as upstream,
before it reaches the metropolitan area.
Upstream, lithium levels were low and similar
to what's found naturally in many rivers, the study found. But where the Han
river ran through Seoul, lithium levels in the water were up to six times
higher than upstream.
"This new study suggests that an increase of urbanisation and
modernisation will result in an increase of the (lithium) levels in waters in
the future," said senior study author Nathalie Vigier of the Sorbonne
University in Paris.
"Quantifying precisely the exact
contribution from high tech materials remains an open question, as well as
predicting how this contribution will evolve in the next 20 years," Vigier
said by email.
The results suggest that lithium levels in
water may be associated with population density, and that waste-water treatment
plants aren't currently effective at removing it from drinking water, the study
team concludes.
Researchers also tested the water to
determine the potential sources of lithium contamination.
They found that lithium entering the Han
river appears to come from lithium-ion batteries that power gadgets like smartphones
and tablets. Pharmaceutical waste – lithium is prescribed for certain
psychiatric disorders – and food waste – lithium enters certain produce from
soil and water – also appeared to contribute to lithium levels in the Han
river.
Contamination from lithium ion batteries
might come from waste waters released at industrial sites, incineration
systems, illegal landfills or storage of old batteries, Vigier said.
The study wasn't designed to determine how
lithium got in the water supply or to prove whether increasing lithium levels
in drinking water has an impact on health.
"The study does not demonstrate that
lithium-batteries are the source of the lithium in the river water," said
Brett Robinson, a professor of environmental chemistry at the University of
Canterbury in New Zealand who wasn't involved in the study.
"In addition to batteries, lithium is
used in greases, ceramics and mood-stabilising drugs," Robinson said by
email. "Lithium from greases may enter river water through storm water and
lithium from mood-stabilising drugs may enter... through treated sewage (the
treatment does not remove lithium)."
Lithium may also leach into the environment
from electronic waste in landfills, Robinson said.
"In poor countries, where informal
recycling of electronic waste occurs, it is likely that large amounts of
(lithium) are entering the environment," Robinson said.
The batteries can be recycled, but most are
not, he added. "As with other recycling issues, lithium battery recycling
is a social and political challenge."
SOURCE: https://go.nature.com/2S5Qeix Nature
Communications, online Dec 3, 2019. – Reuters
.
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