Recovery of cathode copper and ternary precursors from CuS slag derived by waste lithium-ion batteries: Process analysis and evaluation

Abstract

The efficient and environmentally friendly recycling technology of waste residue that including abundant heavy metal produced during the recovery of lithium batteries has become a research hotspot. Herein, a novelty process of acid leaching-selective electrodeposition-deep impurity removal-regeneration was proposed to recovery of the CuS slag, which has been efficient transferred to high purity cathode copper and commercially available ternary precursors. Copper cathode with a purity of 99.67% was prepared under electrochemical reaction conditions at −0.55 V for 2 h. A novel impurity remover-Mn powder, which was used to remove the residual impurities and as a feedstock for the ternary precursor. Finally, NCM523 was regenerated by co-precipitation. The process is superior to the traditional process in economy, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, product purity and process duration. This study provides a new approach for solid waste recovery and precious metal enrichment.