Preferentially selective recovery of lithium from spent LiCoO2 by sulfation roasting of MnSO4

Abstract

The selective recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has engrossed significant scientific attention due to prompting environmental potential and addressing resource scarcity. Hereby, we propose an innovative and economically more environment friendly manganese sulfate roasting water leaching process to selectively recuperate lithium preferentially from spent LiCoO2 batteries. Notably, it is found that manganese sulfate roasting agents can be recirculated thoroughly without SOx emission during the sulfation roasting process. To better understand the conversion mechanism of LiCoO2, the effects of numerous parameters including, roasting time, roasting temperature, and a molar ratio of MnSO4/LiCoO2 during the recovering process were investigated. An exceptional recovery rate of 98.62% with a remarkable lithium selectivity of 99.35% by manganese sulfate leaching was achieved. This work proposes an environmentally friendly and promising strategy to extract lithium selectively from spent lithium cathodes without introducing SOx emission.