Evaluating Potential Environmental Impacts from Use and Disposal of Batteries with Specific DOE Environmental Management Applications
Lead Investigator: Jennifer Guelfo (Texas Tech University)
Additional Investigators: Evan Gray (Texas Tech University)
Project Objectives:
- Identify PFAS and non-PFAS fluorinated battery compounds (FBCs) used in advanced batteries relevant to electric vehicles (EVs) and specialized EVs or other devices used by DOE in unique service applications.
- Identify key environmental considerations for the use, recycling, and disposal of advanced batteries in electric vehicles in general and in unique service applications.
Significance/Impact:
PFAS occurrence has been established at DOE facilities, including Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Laboratories. Further, DOE issued a Strategic Roadmap committing to understanding PFAS use at DOE sites, reducing risks associated with any PFAS releases, preventing future environmental PFAS releases, and enhancing PFAS research (DOE, 2022b). DOE has also committed to a 100% zero EV fleet in its 2022 Sustainability Plan (DOE, 2022a). This may include EVs in general and battery-operated robotic devices in EM operations that represent unique challenges in deep mining activities (WIPP) and radioactive waste management operations (e.g., waste retrieval from single-shell tanks, waste processing). Simultaneously, there is increasing awareness of the use of PFAS in battery technology (e.g., lithium-ion batteries or LiBs) as electrolytes, electrode binders, and separators (Guelfo et al., In press). Studies have demonstrated the environmental release of LiB-associated PFAS near manufacturing facilities and confirmed their occurrence in wastewater and landfill leachate (Neuwald et al., 2022; Guelfo et al., In press). Thus, there is the potential for the pursuit of a zero-emissions fleet to harm DOE’s progress in their PFAS Strategic Roadmap. Studies have also confirmed the environmental release of non-PFAS FBCs (e.g., there is no information regarding the environmental risk of FBCs relative to PFAS (Neuwald et al., 2021, 2022). Objectives described here will facilitate DOE’s ability to successfully and simultaneously pursue both their PFAS strategic and sustainability plans.
Public Benefits:
This project will reduce the use and release of recalcitrant chemicals (PFAS) used in batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) and other DOE and non-DOE applications. The results from this research will be made publicly available in peer-reviewed manuscripts to help inform the public. As part of this project, graduate students will be trained in cutting-edge approaches to PFAS analysis, knowledge of fate, transport, and ecotoxicity. This training will have a broad applicability to both DOE and other sites.
References: (* indicates CRESP publication)
DOE (2022a) 2022 Department of Energy Sustainability Plan. Available at: https://www.sustainability.gov/pdfs/doe-2022-sustainability-plan.pdf (Accessed: 10 June 2024).
DOE (2022b) PFAS Strategic Roadmap: DOE Commitments to Action 2022-2025. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/pfas/articles/pfas-strategic-roadmap-doe-commitments-action-2022-2025#:~:text=PFAS%20Strategic%20Roadmap%3A%20DOE%20Commitments%20to%20Action%202022%2D2025,-August%2018%2C%202022&text=Specifically%2C%20DOE%20commits%20to%3A,the%20 environment%20at%20DOE%20sites. (Accessed: 10 June 2024).
Guelfo, J. et al. (In press) ‘Lithium-ion battery components are at the nexus of sustainable energy and environmental PFAS release’, Nature Communications [Preprint].
Guelfo, J.L. and Higgins, C.P. (2013) ‘Subsurface Transport Potential of Perfluoroalkyl Acids at Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF)-Impacted Sites’, Environmental Science & Technology, 47(9), pp. 4164–4171. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/es3048043.
Neuwald, I. et al. (2021) ‘Filling the knowledge gap: A suspect screening study for 1310 potentially persistent and mobile chemicals with SFC- and HILIC-HRMS in two German river systems’, Water Research, 204, p. 117645. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117645.
Neuwald, I.J. et al. (2022) ‘Ultra-Short-Chain PFASs in the Sources of German Drinking Water: Prevalent, Overlooked, Difficult to Remove, and Unregulated’, Environmental Science & Technology, 56(10), pp. 6380–6390. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c07949.
Schaefer, C.E. et al. (2023) ‘Occurrence of quantifiable and semi-quantifiable poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in united states wastewater treatment plants’, Water Research, 233, p. 119724. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119724.
Shojaei, M., Kumar, N. and Guelfo, J.L. (2022) ‘An Integrated Approach for Determination of Total Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)’, Environmental Science & Technology, 56(20), pp. 14517–14527. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05143.
USEPA (2000) Methods for Measuring the Toxicity and Bioaccumulation of Sediment-associated Contaminants with Freshwater Invertebrates. EPA 600/R-99/064. USEPA. Available at: internal-pdf://USEPA 2000-0707894272/USEPA 2000.pdf.
Yang, Z., Shojaei, M. and Guelfo, J.L. (2023) ‘Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in grocery store foods: method optimization, occurrence, and exposure assessment’, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, p. 10.1039.D3EM00268C. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EM00268C.