Investigation of the Physico-Chemical Properties of the Products Obtained after Mixed Organic-Inorganic Leaching of Spent Li-Ion Batteries

Weronika Urbańska,Magdalena Osial

doi:10.3390/en13246732

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries are currently one of the most important mobile energy storage units for portable electronics such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. Their widespread application leads to the generation of large amounts of waste, so their recycling plays an important role in environmental policy. In this work, the process of leaching with sulfuric acid for the recovery of metals from spent Li-ion batteries in the presence of glutaric acid and hydrogen peroxide as reducing agents is presented. Experimental results indicate that glutaric-acid application improves the leaching performance compared to the use of just hydrogen peroxide under the same conditions. Obtained samples of leaching residues after mixed inorganic-organic leaching were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction.

Highlights

Lithium-ion batteries and accumulators are used in a wide variety of devices—mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and children’s toys and medical equipment
Sulfuric acid was used as a leaching agent, while different reducing while 45 can be attributed to the (400) plane or (104) that is characteristic to LiCoO2 [53,54]
Application of the ICP-OES technique revealed that procedure 2 was the least effective towards metal recovery

Summary

Introduction

Lithium-ion batteries and accumulators are used in a wide variety of devices—mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and children’s toys and medical equipment. Batteries made our life easier and revolutionized the world—thanks to the possibility of using cells as an electricity source, many devices have become mobile, making them more attractive. Complex battery packs are used in the automotive industry—as a power source for modern hybrid or electric cars. Despite their many advantages, the widespread use of batteries has some drawbacks, mainly due to the quite complex composition of the cells. Lithium-ion batteries are made up of a graphite anode and a cathode, made out of a Lix Mey On type compound—the most commonly used is lithium cobaltate, LiCoO2. Each component of the Li-ion battery generates large amounts of waste, while the most hazardous ones are compounds containing heavy metals such as cobalt

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Conclusion