Lithium battery fireOverview

With the widespread use of lithium batteries, the risk of fires is gradually increasing. Many influential fire accidents have occurred at home and abroad, leading to large-scale recalls of related products.

2.1 Fires in the use and transportation of lithium batteries

In 2006, a DC-8 cargo plane of American Express landed at the airport due to a fire caused by a lithium battery used to transport laptop computers. The cargo plane fire continued to burn for 4 hours, most of the cargo was burned, and 3 crew members were injured.

In 2010, a Boeing 747 freighter of the company crashed in Dubai, which was also caused by a fire with lithium-ion batteries on board. For this reason, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has repeatedly warned of potential safety hazards in the air transportation of lithium-ion batteries, and the international civil aviation community has also put forward strict restrictions on the transportation of lithium batteries.

2.2 Fire in the field of lithium battery recycling

The fire that occurred in Terrell's lithium-ion battery recycling warehouse in Canada on November 7, 2009 is the most influential fire accident so far. Headquartered in Anaheim, California, USA. In August 2009, the company received a special subsidy of US$9.5 million from the US Department of Energy for the research and development of lithium battery recycling technology.

In the event of a fire, there are a large number of recycled lithium batteries and lithium-ion batteries in the warehouse that need to be processed, including small mobile phones, laptop batteries and high-power batteries used in electric vehicles. After the fire broke out, it quickly entered a violent burning stage, and the local government initiated a regional emergency linkage mechanism. Due to the fierce fire, they were worried that lithium would react with water to produce lithium hydroxide and hydrogen. Firefighters did not shoot a lot of water and only controlled the surrounding fire to prevent the fire from spreading. The fire was not completely burned out until the next afternoon, and the environment may have caused some damage. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but it is estimated that the lithium batteries stored in the warehouse have overheated due to short-circuit and high-temperature combustion.