Lithium-ion batteries (LiB secondary batteries) are widely used in small and slim electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, wearable devices, and laptops, EV (electric vehicles) and HEV (hybrid vehicles) vehicle-mounted batteries, and residential solar power generation and fuel cell power storage systems.
Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in various portable electronic devices due to their high utilization due to their small degree of self-discharge even when not in use, and their size and thickness can be made small and thin, and they can store energy at high density and up to high voltage. However, despite their utilization, lithium-ion batteries have a fatal disadvantage of explosion risk despite their various advantages.
On June 24, a large fire broke out at a lithium battery manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The cause of the fire at a lithium battery manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, which caused massive casualties, was found to have spread explosively. The damage seems to have increased due to the “thermal runaway” phenomenon that occurs in the battery fire. Some 35,000 cylindrical lithium batteries were stored at the plant, which was designated as the site of the fire.
Fire authorities checked CCTV inside the factory and found that a fire broke out while packaging the battery, and the second-floor studio was covered with smoke just 15 seconds after the fire broke out. “At first, small white smoke began to come up from the battery part and the smoke spread rapidly,” said Cho Sun-ho, head of the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters. “The workers seemed a little embarrassed at first, but they brought a fire extinguisher and tried to extinguish it, but it seems that the initial suppression was not made due to the surrounding lithium.”
Foreign media described the fire as “the worst chemical fire in Korean history.” They also expressed concern that the recent accident is raising the issue of risks to lithium batteries. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he visited the site of the accident and ordered countermeasures against the chemical fire, adding that the lithium fire has long been a concern in the industry and continues to be a problem around the world.
As lithium batteries are widely used worldwide, fires can occur in any country, so in-depth consideration of the safety of lithium batteries is needed. In particular, Korea has various companies related to lithium batteries such as LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, so continuous management is expected to be needed in the future.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
