A sustainable process for the recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries. Issue 5 (May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fan, Bailin; Chen, Xiangping; Zhou, Tao; Zhang, Jinxia; Xu, Bao
• Is Part Of: Waste management & research. Volume 34:Issue 5(2016:May)
• Page Start: 474
• Page End: 481
• Publication Date: 2016-05
• Subjects: Spent lithium-ion batteries -- recovery -- leaching -- precipitation -- circulatory leaching; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Refuse and refuse disposal -- Periodicals; Municipal engineering -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets -- Élimination -- Périodiques; Génie urbain -- Périodiques; 628
• DOI: 10.1177/0734242X16634454
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0734-242X

Abstract

In this work, an eco-friendly and hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of cobalt and lithium from spent lithium-ion batteries has been proposed, which includes pretreatment, citric acid leaching, selective chemical precipitation and circulatory leaching. After pretreatment (manual dismantling, N -methyl pyrrolidone immersion and calcination), Cu and Al foils are recycled directly and the cathode active materials are separated from the cathode efficiently. Then, the obtained cathode active materials (waste LiCoO2 ) was firstly leached with 1.25 mol l −1 citric acid and 1 vol.% H2 O2 solution. Then cobalt was precipitated using oxalic acid (H2 C2 O4 ) under a molar ratio of 1:1.05 (H2 C2 O4 : Co 2+ ). After filtration, the filtrate (containing Li + ) and H2 O2 was employed as a leaching agent and the optimum conditions are studied in detail. The leaching efficiencies can reach as high as 98% for Li and 90.2% for Co, respectively, using filter liquor as leaching reagent under conditions of leaching temperature of 90°C, 0.9 vol.% H2 O2 and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 60 ml g −1 for 35 min. After three bouts of circulatory leaching, more than 90% Li and 80% Co can be leached under the same leaching conditions. In this way, Li and Co can be recovered efficiently and waste liquor re-utilization is achievable with this hydrometallurgical process, which may promise both economic and environmental benefits.