Recovery of Cobalt from Spent Lithium-Ion Mobile Phone Batteries Using Liquid–Liquid Extraction

Daniel Quintero-Almanza,Agustín Ramón Uribe-Ramírez,Alberto Florentino Aguilera-Alvarado,Luz Marina Ocampo Carmona,Zeferino Gamiño-Arroyo,Fernando Israel Gómez-Castro,Lorena Eugenia Sánchez-Cadena

doi:10.3390/batteries5020044

Daniel Quintero-Almanza, Agustín Ramón Uribe-Ramírez + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries5020044

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Abstract

The aim of this paper was to propose and test a continuous cobalt recovery process from waste mobile phone batteries. The procedure started with dismantling, crushing, and classifying the materials. A study on leaching with sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide was carried out with subsequent selective separation of cobalt by means of liquid–liquid extraction. The best extraction conditions were determined based on a sequence of experiments that consisted of selecting the best extractant for cobalt, then assessing the impact of extractant concentration, pH, and contact time on the extraction yield. With these conditions, an extraction isotherm was obtained and correlated with a mathematical model to define the number of extraction stages for a countercurrent process using the McCabe–Thiele method. Then, a similar study was done for stripping conditions and, as a last step, cobalt electroplating was performed. The proposed process offers a solution for the treatment of these batteries, avoiding potential problems of contamination and risk for living beings, as well as offering an opportunity to recover valuable metal.

Highlights

In recent decades, the use of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) in a large number of portable devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toys, medical equipment, and tools, has increased
LiBsof ofdifferent differentbrands brandswere were collected from numerous sources such as markets
LiBs of different brands were collected from numerous sources such as markets markets and and stores

Summary

Introduction

The use of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) in a large number of portable devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toys, medical equipment, and tools, has increased. This consumption has generated a large number of spent batteries. The battery represents 21.12% of the total weight, together with other materials such as plastics (25.75 wt%), printed circuit boards (PCBs) (17.67 wt%), metals (17.30 wt%), and displays (8.37 wt%) [2]. There are around 780,000 metric tons of spent LiBs, and for China alone, there is an estimated increase to 500,000 metric tons for 2020 [3]. The average composition of the materials in LiBs is presented in Table 1 [5]

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