By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
A small landfill fire sparked a discussion among the board regarding the safety of lithium ion batteries and the disposal of the batteries by the general public. The fire, according to Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Presiding Chair Mark Holstine was small and occurred over a month prior to the August 19th meeting. “We did have a fire,” Holstine said. “Just to kind of let you know how lithium ion batteries are a problem, especially for us in the waste industry,” Holstine said.
Holstine acknowledged that the batteries were not definitely determined to be the cause of the fire and that any correlation was pure speculation without further investigation. “We don’t know that, that is what happened,” Holstine said. “But we can almost bet that it was that started the fire in the field. Its just a problem.”
Holstine said he knew that customers place lithium ion batteries into the trash. Once in the landfill, Holstine said, the batteries are subject to the same process as the rest of the refuse such as the tracks of the compacter. “People throw them away,” Holstine said. “You crack them, you run over them, we all run a compacter over them, so most likely they will get cracked, they will get exposed to water all that.”
Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Vice Chair Dennis Filler said that the batteries did not combust due to exposure to water, as many people think. “So contrary to popular belief,” Filler said, “a lithium battery does not catch fire by getting wet. Raw lithium metal does catch fire that way because that’s how the chemistry works,” Filler said. “But these are not only lithium ion.”
Filler said he learned the science behind the batteries when he was Director of Research for the FAA. “Where I learned all this stuff is I used to be the Director of Research for the FAA. So I dealt with this airplane, lithium ion thing catching fire,” Filler said
According to Filler, water is how the fires are extinguished. “Water is generally how you put it out because it cools. It also smothers the thing, Filler said. “That’s the misnomer. Guys, that’s the only way of putting it out. Its what we do whenever they catch fire on aircraft.”
Filler said the fire is caused by damage to the plates and internal components. “What does cause it catch fire is the way the plates are or the substrates are rolled or packaged,” Filler said. “When you puncture those things or short them, then it starts spontaneous combustion inside it. It will catch fire.”
Filler also said the devices themselves can build up shorts over time that will generate heat and build to combustion. “Likewise the battery will build internal shorts inside of it.” Filler said. “That generates the heat that it takes to generate the process.”
Holstine said he was surprised that there weren’t more issues at transfer stations from discarded lithium ion batteries. “I’m surprised they don’t have more trouble over at the transfer station,” Holstine said.
Holstine said the best way to dispose of the batteries is through an approved recycling program. “The best way is through some recycling program,” Holstine said.
