PIC to start it off.
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@Battery_Mooch you will rule this thread, as if the The battery builders club was not enough for you.
I was ripping the nickel off those cells to take the holders and I tore open the bottom of nearly all the cells, electrolyte vapor spurting out.
So after I take all the cells and tape over then ends as the hazmat drop off page says to do, I wonder if the electrolyte will keep evaporating and leak out despite the tape. Then should these be stored outside or otherwise in a vapor sealed container?
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There’s not a lot of liquid inside each cell but assume it will leak out. The liquid is organic solvents (plus lithium salt and additives) so it could dissolve the tape’s adhesive enough to leak past it.
Placing all of them in plastic container like that is good thing to do. Just make sure they cannot short-circuit each other.
I strongly recommend not sealing them inside anything. The solvents are flammable and the vapor could mix with the air in the container and go boom if there was a spark.
Since the fumes are toxic I would leave the container outside, away from children and pets, until you can properly dispose of the cells.
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so I was reading when I went looking for a lithium electrolyte MSDS sheet or something
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This paper is pretty good. There’s a lot you can do with additives but the stuff is still pretty dangerous. If not flammable (due to the additives or being an aqueous electrolyte) then still pretty frakkin’ toxic:
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What we say in the french forum is :
Put the cells in a bucket filled with water with a lot of salt to fully discharge them
Then take them to your local waste treatment facility (don’t know the real name in english)
And voila
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No… salt will create rust. Unsalted water is what is good.
They would rather cells not be rusty.
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Rust requires oxygen to appear, if the cells are fully submerged rust wouldn’t appear (at least I think)
The point of salt is to make the water more conductive to allow the battery to fully discharged, distilled water will not do
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I am no aquaman but I think I recall water being made from Oxygen, Hydrogen and Hydrogen
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Haha yes but this is not nuclear physic, you can rip out atoms from molecules like that 
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I figured that they would just wriggle their way in there…
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Under that logic all sealife will die due to no oxegen. It WILL Rust even fully submerged.
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There’s arguments agains over discharging. Over discharging coats the plates. This in turn makes it harder to extract the very little that I’d recycled and therefore less is recycled.
Very little of the Li ion battery It’s actually recycled lithium is one of the waste products that is not recycled currently. Even though we are currently heading very quickly towards a world shortage of lifium natural resources.
Lithium ion batteries are bad for the environment Both in manufacturing, shipping, disposal and recycling.
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Yep true, so it will rust
But I think the discharge is much faster than the time the oxydation will become significant, so it make sense to do it
Any rust is adding more contaminants resulting in less recycled raw materials more in land full. Discharging by submerging thro water is just not recommended by manufactures that I’ve come across discharging to 2.5v insulating the ends and recyclability thro local means is.
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Just so your aware this is a recommended proses from a battry recycaling company that takes li ion battery’s and what thay want you to do.
The Procedure at Sims Lifecycle Services
Undamaged batteries from electronic devices
Regular packing
Remove attached wires unless contacts are connected, which should be isolated using insulation tape. Undamaged batteries may not be covered in plastic bags or foil. Batteries should be placed in a UN-approved barrel (200L barrel or 400kg pallet box) with an inner plastic lining.
Place a 10 cm layer of dry sand (for lithium-ion) or vermiculite (for other battery types) at the bottom. Then a layer of batteries can be added to the barrel and be covered by a 10 cm layer of dry sand or vermiculite and so on.
Damaged, swollen or leaking batteries from electronic devices
Regular packing + plastic bag/foil and extra sand
Remove attached wires. Place battery in a clear plastic bag, or wrap in clear plastic foil. Batteries should be placed in a UN-approved 200L barrel with an inner plastic lining. Place a 10 cm layer of dry sand (for lithium-ion) or vermiculite (for other battery types) at the bottom. Then a layer of batteries can be added to the barrel and covered by a 10cm layer of dry sand or vermiculite and so on.
Do not mix damaged and non-damaged batteries. Each type must store in its own UN-approved barrel. Weight should be 1/3 sand and 2/3 batteries. Damaged, leaking or swollen batteries should be packed in plastic.
Devices with swollen batteries
Place device in clear plastic bag, or wrap it in clear plastic foil; then place products in a UN-approved 200L barrel with an inner plastic lining. Place a 10 cm layer of dry sand (for lithium-ion) or vermiculite (for other battery types) at the bottom. Then a layer of products can be added to the barrel and covered by a layer off 10cm dry sand or vermiculite and so on.
Do not mix damaged and non-damaged batteries. Each type must store in its own UN-approved barrel. Weight should be 1/3 sand and 2/3 batteries. Damaged, leaking or swollen batteries should be packed in plastic.
At no point do that say contaminate and over discharging and damage battery’s with water it’s a wives tale that is over told and bad parties needs to be spread that it’s FAKE NEWS as it hinders and reduces the quantity of rew materials that can be recycled.
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I didn’t know, it’s nice info !
Never use salt water to discharge a cell!
The electrolysis you start quickly eats away the metal and only discharges very slowly. You can create a toxic sludge and there are big safety issues if you corrode away enough metal to expose the inside of the cell. There is just no need to do something like this.
Tape up the cells so none can be short-circuited and properly dispose of them at a recycling center or cell drop-off point.
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Electrolysis creates its own oxygen and it’s very good at ripping molecules. 
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I don’t think the oxygen is ripped from the water molecule and it’s dissolved. Fish aren’t taking apart molecules. However that happens or what that means I’m hoping to hear
Is the cell liquid conductive?
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