Flame retardants in battery enclosures may do more harm than good

As harmful lithium-ion battery fires are on the rise, regulators and producers are scrambling for options. Sadly, one frequent technique might trigger critical well being hurt and never work to gradual or cease the fires.

A brand new Viewpoint appearing in Environmental Science & Expertise explains that including flame retardants to the plastic instances surrounding these batteries has no confirmed fire-safety profit. The scientists additional warn that the sorts of flame retardants extensively utilized in electronics enclosures are linked to most cancers and different well being harms and might find yourself in youngsters’s toys, meals containers, and different merchandise made out of recycled plastic.

“The use of flame retardants in plastic battery enclosures has no demonstrated benefit and poses threats that can last generations,” stated lead writer Lydia Jahl, a scientist on the Inexperienced Science Coverage Institute. “For example, toxic flame retardants migrate out of plastics into the air and drop into house dust, which we inadvertently breathe and ingest. When those flame-retarded plastics are recycled years later, additional people will be exposed to products made with the recycled plastic.”

Lithium-ion batteries energy electric carse-bikes, and an growing array of moveable electronics like smartphones and earbuds. As their utilization expands, requirements are being adopted to mitigate their critical hearth dangers. For instance, “flame ratings” for plastic enclosures are frequent necessities which might be met by including chemical flame retardants. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a publicly obtainable analysis demonstrating that this use of flame retardants curbs battery fires beneath real-world circumstances. Flame retardants in plastics probably can not gradual or cease the extremely energetic fires from a lithium-ion battery in thermal runaway.

“Trying to stop thermal runaway fires by adding flame retardants to plastic is like adding a screen door to a submarine. It’s a futile effort against an overwhelming force,” stated distinguished hearth scientist Dr. Vyto Babrauskas.

The flame retardants extensively used for this goal are organohalogens and organophosphates linked to most cancers in addition to neurological, reproductive, and immune hurt. Younger youngsters and pregnant ladies are probably the most weak. The authors illustrate how folks could also be uncovered to those dangerous chemical compounds throughout battery manufacturing, use of the unique product (e.g., earbuds or an e-bike), disposal and recycling, and using recycled merchandise (e.g., the notorious black plastic spatula or sushi tray).

This is able to not be the primary time that using flame retardants to fulfill flammability requirements has resulted in well being hurt with out confirmed fire-safety advantages. For instance, an unlucky long-time California furnishings flammability normal didn’t scale back hearth deaths.

In the meantime, one of many flame retardants mostly used to fulfill that normal was linked to the lack of three to five IQ points amongst U.S. youngsters and a 300% enhance within the threat of dying from cancer. Since that normal was up to date a decade in the past to be met without flame retardantsfurnishings fires have remained minimal and even decreased.

“One of the best resolution for each public health and hearth security is to forestall battery fires from occurring within the first place,” stated co-author Arlene Blum, government director of the Inexperienced Science Coverage Institute. “Strategies like improving battery management systems and stopping the use of faulty batteries can prevent dangerous thermal runaway fires. This would save lives both from fires as well as from cancer and the many other health harms linked to flame retardants.”

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Inexperienced Science Coverage Institute