Applicability of the reduction smelting recycling process to different types of spent lithium-ion batteries cathode materials

Abstract

The high-temperature smelting process based on pyrometallurgy is influential in the field of recycling spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) on an industrial scale. However, there are a variety of cathode materials for spent LIBs. The applicability of the high-temperature smelting process to different kinds of cathode materials has not been reported. In this work, the applicability of the reduction smelting process to four different cathode materials is studied. The phase transition, distribution and existence of target elements and the characteristics of the smelting products when different cathode materials are used as raw materials are systematically discussed. The results show that the reduction smelting process can recover the four different cathode materials (LiCoO2, LiFePO4, LiMn2O4, LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2) of spent LIBs. The reduction smelting process is also suitable for complex feedstocks containing the four cathode materials. The target elements Co, Cu, Ni, Fe and P are transferred to the alloy. The target elements Li and Mn volatilize into the gas phase. In addition, the future application of the reduction smelting process on an industrial scale is discussed and proposed. This study reveals the excellent applicability of the reduction smelting process to different LIB cathode materials and provides support for the development of a high-temperature smelting process based on pyrometallurgy.