Abstract
This study focuses on the hydrometallurgical route of separating Ni metal from spent nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries. The comparison of separation of nickel metal with the assistance of ultrasonic leaching and regular leaching was performed. Sulphuric acid (solvent) was used as the lixiviant to leach out the nickel metal ions from the spent battery and the parameters affecting the leaching with and without ultrasonication were optimized. The major parameters affecting the leaching process are volume of solvent, concentration of lixiviant and leaching time. The electrodeposition of nickel metal ions from ultrasonically assisted and regular leaching was carried out at an optimized current density of 8 A dm-2, contact time of 4 hours and the concentration of lixiviant of 5 M. It was observed that the recovery efficiency for ultrasonically assisted leaching followed by electrodeposition is 98.5 %, while in regular leaching followed by electrodeposition is 90.8 %.
Highlights
IntroductionRechargeable batteries such as nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion batteries are commonly used as the power sources in electronic devices like mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, and hybrid electric vehicles [1]
Electrodeposition; leaching; spent battery; ultrasonication. Rechargeable batteries such as nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion batteries are commonly used as the power sources in electronic devices like mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, and hybrid electric vehicles [1]
This research is focused on the effects of process conditions of the regular and ultrasonically assisted leaching of Ni metal ions from spent NiCd batteries
Summary
Rechargeable batteries such as nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion batteries are commonly used as the power sources in electronic devices like mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, and hybrid electric vehicles [1]. Batteries are complex systems containing large number of different materials inside a small volume. All materials in a battery contribute to environmental pollution when discarded [2,3]. In NiCd battery, the anode is nickel oxy-hydroxide, the cathode is cadmium and the electrolyte is KOH. The nickel content of the cathodic part is 69.26 %, which represents a significant amount to be recovered. There are two major techniques carried out in the recovery of metals, namely the hydrometallurgical process and the pyrometallurgical process. Hydrometallurgical process includes solvent extraction, acid or base leaching, sequential leaching along with electrodeposition or selective precipitation, bio-leaching and ultrasonic assisted leaching [4,5,6,7,8]
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