Abstract

Lithium ion batteries are the most commonly used batteries at present, and because of the large number of people using and manufacturing them, the serious environmental problems caused by the final disposal of waste lithium batteries are worth discussing. In this study, lithium ion batteries were crushed with a crusher, and the obtained powder was then sieved and collected. The valuable metals in the lithium ion batteries were recovered using a hydrometallurgy process. The research included the use of acid leaching and chemical precipitation. Acid leaching of the cathode electrode powder with three kinds of acids, including citric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, resulted in a leaching solution rich in lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. The leaching solution obtained from hydrochloric acid leaching was selected as the liquid to be used for the precipitation experiments. Precipitation was performed first using a selective chemical precipitation method, and manganese was first precipitated as a black powder. The color of the leaching solution after manganese precipitation changed to dark pink, and the liquid was full of cobalt and nickel. Then, the cobalt and nickel were co-precipitated with ammonium citric, and the obtained precipitates were either pale pink or grayish pink. After precipitation of cobalt and nickel, only lithium was left in the transparent, colorless leaching liquid. Finally, lithium was concentrated through reduced pressure evaporation, and a green lithium salt was obtained.

Highlights

  • In recent years, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used as electro-chemical power sources for portable electronic devices such as those used in computer engineering (CE) and electric vehicles (EV)

  • The powder consists of cobalt and nickel compounds, and manganese is evenly distributed on the particles in the form of a fine powder

  • We developed a complete lithium battery recovery solution from the physical pretreatment to the hydrometallurgy process

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Summary

Introduction

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used as electro-chemical power sources for portable electronic devices such as those used in computer engineering (CE) and electric vehicles (EV). With increasing global use of such batteries for transportable applications, the need for lithium ion batteries will increase due to the corresponding global demand. Liang Chen [4] used sulfuric acid to obtain a cobalt impregnation rate of 95% under 4M and 10% hydrogen peroxide. The use of organic acids such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid produces toxic gases such. The main elements in all lithium-ion batteries are lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, so the precipitation can contain these four elements. Jeong-Soo Sohn et al [5] obtained a precipitation efficiency of 96.1% when the molar ratio of ammonium oxalate to cobalt ion was 4, but at the same time, 90% of the nickel and copper were co-precipitated together.

Experimental Process
Physical Pretreatment
Acid Impregnation
Selective Chemical Precipitation Separation
Surface Characterization
The Acid Impregnation Results
Conclusion
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