L.A. Crews Removed Over 450 Tonnes of Lithium-Ion Batteries from Burn Zones

The months-long effort to remove these batteries is coming to an end this April.

Diana Butron

The months-long effort to remove these batteries is coming to an end this April. It began with mapping potential battery locations using information from car and solar panel companies, public utilities, homeowners, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Hundreds of federal environmental officials had to manually sift through fire debris. Once a battery was located, it was submerged in a brine solution and then ground into pieces for safe transportation and recycling.

In the case of car batteries, the process was even more involved: voltage cables connected to airbags and seat belts had to be disconnected, the tops of the cars sawed off, the cars flipped over, and thousands of battery cells underneath detached and loaded into metal barrels. Each car took about two hours to process. If these batteries are not handled correctly, they can reignite—even months later.

This process, developed by the EPA for safely removing and neutralizing the stored power in lithium-ion batteries, is now known as the "Maui Method." The name comes from an earlier operation following the Lahaina fire, where the EPA had to manage similar battery hazards. With no recycling facilities on Maui and transportation companies refusing to carry the high-risk cargo, the EPA had to innovate on-site.

Initially, during the first few weeks, batteries were crushed between a metal plate and a drum roller, flattening them. By the end of March, the team switched to using two machines resembling giant sausage grinders, each about the size of a riding lawn mower. The smaller of these machines can process up to eight barrels per hour, compared to the plate-and-roller method, which could only handle one barrel every 30 to 45 minutes.

References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctRqiG6E88c