Lithium recycling plant blowd up real good

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Explosions and fire tear through battery recycling plant in Trail, B.C.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOjTGH9_SQXed1gwD6PcHh7visMw

and video here:
[youtube]dfQwYKqmfk4[/youtube]

tks
LloC

 

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From the Toxco web site:
http://www.toxco.com/index.html

"NOTICE: 11/08/09
On the evening of November 7 at approximately 5:00 PM a fire involving lithium batteries occurred inside a storage building at Toxco's British Columbia lithium battery recycling facility. The fire occurred after hours and no operations were in progress at the time. We are grateful to the Regional District Kootenay Boundary Fire Services who responded immediately to extinguish and contain the fire. There were no injuries and the fire did not require evacuation of any homes in the area. The fire did not result in any negative impacts to the environment of the surrounding area. Toxco management and staff are presently on site assisting in the final stages of the response and commencing the initial stages of clean up. The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.

Senior management is in route to assist in the investigation and is pledging resources necessary to assure a safe and expeditious clean up.

For more information please contact Todd Coy at (949) 310-0807"

tks
LloCk

 

[vanilla ice]

Sounds like fireworks.

What exactly is in the smoke from a lithium battery fire? As a lipo gnewb about to jump in diy styles, might come in handy knowing this.. How bad is the smoke?

 

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Coupla snips from this followup news story from yesterday:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-quality-concerns-after-blaze/article1356106/

The used lithium batteries, which are considered hazardous waste by the federal government, arrive at the facility from across Canada and the United States.

They are stored in earth-covered concrete bunkers and subjected to a cryogenic process that cools the material to minus 198 degrees C to render the chemicals almost inert. The lithium is converted to lithium carbonate and resold.

Local officials were advised that the explosions gave off emissions of sulphur dioxide and lithium hydroxide, John MacLean, chief administrative officer for the regional district of Kootenay Boundary, said yesterday in an interview.

Initial reports indicated the plumes of gases did not approach anyone's home, Mr. MacLean said.

"It did not stay together, as a gas. It would have gone up and dispersed," he said. "There was never any need to start evacuating anybody."


tks
lLlok

 

[Doctorbass]

After seeing that i feel that these recycled battery would feel SAFER and better in my garage.. for future Ebike diy pack use!!!

Doc

 

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Update from the Toxco web site:

KOOTENAY BOUNDARY REGIONAL FIRE RESCUE'S ASSESMENT: 11/30/09
"Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Toxco Waste Management Ltd. have completed an investigation into the November 7, 2009 Lithium Battery Fire that occurred in the Trail Industrial Park 10 kilometers South of the City of Trail, B.C."

"Previous fires at this location have resulted in Toxco Waste Management engaging Fire Protection Engineers to perform design upgrades to their facility which compartmentalized phases of the operation for containment of fire should they occur. The November 7, 2009 fire took place in an existing stand alone battery discharge building located on the North East corner of the property. Although the structure was a total loss the fire was contained on site to the area of origin. Fire extension was experienced to the adjoining Regional District Recycling facility and caused by hot flying projectiles from the discharge building."

"The heat and the nature of the fire was extremely intense disrupting all evidence at the point of fire origin. Therefore the cause of the November 7th fire will remain as undetermined with strong suspicion of failure in a single battery causing fire extension to the product stored in this immediate area."

"Toxco Waste Management continues to work with the Ministry of Environment and Fire Protection Engineers to ensure a safer operation for the future."

"Lithium batteries are very common in our everyday lives and found in cameras, cell phones, laptop computers, and most recently in electric cars on our roadways. Lithium will react violently when in contact with moisture and therefore the batteries must be disposed of appropriately by recycling. We remind the public not to store spent lithium batteries in your homes and do not dispose of lithium batteries into your domestic garbage. If batteries make their way to landfill sites the lithium can be exposed by heavy equipment operation and moisture will cause fire reaction. Fires in landfills are very difficult to extinguish and can burn for years underground."

"We encourage the public to use safe practices while disposing of lithium type batteries and please contact your local fire officials if you have any questions on this product."

*************************************
Still would like to know what these "projectiles" were and what force projected them...
tks
Llocc

 

[spinningmagnets]

Upon reading about the history of the DuPont corp, I found in the early 1800's they were one of the biggest producers of gunpowder in the USA. They used water wheels to mix the powder (sulfur, charcoal, saltpeter [potassium nitrate]) using wooden mix paddles and mash wheels, on a round stone. 3 of the walls were very stout stone construction, the roof (only to keep out rain/snow) was light, as was the wall facing the river.

On occasion, one of the mixing machines would explode upwards and out towards the river, so the tender spent most of his time in a pit nearby. After a time, he'd de-clutch the water-wheel, scoop up the mixed gunpowder, and spread some SCS to mix on the round stone for the next batch. In spite of precautions, they preferred to employ older single men...

 

[Lock]

...they preferred to employ older single men...

hehe... I imagine this was something like lithium battery production in China these daze :wink:

As horrific as 9/11 was, folks have forgotten about the Black Tom explosion in 1916:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion

Not the same loss of life but still one heck of a BANG
tks
Lock

 

[AussieJester]

How bad is the smoke?

Oh im sure alot worse than coal fired power stations

Really takes off around 1.30 woohoo pop a stick in it and call it done...

KiM

 

[morph999]

I went on a RC car forum and everyone told me to stay away from LIPO batteries. Someone said that LIPO explosion in your house can destroy all your electronics from just the smoke.

 

[AussieJester]

YuP YuP Rc peeps dont use lipo anymore either do they morph...

KiM

 

[biohazardman]

Kewal it is. Just like the Forth of July here in the U.S. just wee bit more smoke. Glad it wasn't someone's house or neighborhood here on the forum. I don't mind the desruction so much so long as no one gets hurt. Thanks for the post.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Hmmm, looks like there's a fire-proof garage in my future sometime...

 

[John in CR]

After seeing that i feel that these recycled battery would feel SAFER and better in my garage.. for future Ebike diy pack use!!!

Doc

All I could think about is how many perfectly good cells went to waste in that fire. Dead cells don't pose any risk do they, at least until a fire is already started?

John