Recycling Of Spent Batteries Research Articles

Heavy Metals Analysis and Physicochemical Characterization of Groundwater at a Battery Recycling Site in South-western Nigeria

Indiscriminate dumping of battery waste is a huge issue that endangers human health and the environment. This study aimed at analysing the health impacts of exposure to pollution from spent battery recycling in Ogun State, which houses a diverse range of battery recycling industries. At this study site, forty water samples were studied over the Wet and Dry seasons to assess the impact of battery recycling waste on groundwater. Except for the TSS, the physiochemical parameters of the groundwater vary with season and are within the permissible limits. The electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, Phosphorus, Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), Dissolve oxygen (DO), and Total suspended solid (TSS) within the study year ranges from 51.00 - 178.22 S/cm, 2.26 - 2.36 NTU, 0.089 - 0.66 mg/L, 13.3 - 14.2 mg/L, 5.06 - 5.67 mg/L, and 78.0 - 88.4 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the average concentrations (in ppm) obtained for Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd, As, Fe, Pb, Cr, and Co are 0.407 – 0.42, 0.355 – 0.369, 0.179 – 0.225, 0.061 – 0.265, 0.366 – 0.464, 0.488 – 0.631, 0.544 – 0.601, 0.481 – 0.576, 0.284 – 0.334, 0.3 – 0.382. The Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) values ranging from 3.880 to 4.528 indicate minimal levels of heavy metal contamination, but water quality index (WQI) scores ranging from 124.68 to 131.46 indicate potential environmental hazards.

Spent graphite regeneration: Exploring diverse repairing manners with impurities-catalyzing effect towards high performance and low energy consumption

Spent battery recycling has received considerable attention because of its economic and environmental potential. A large amount of retired graphite has been produced as the main electrode material, accompanied by a detailed exploration of the repair mechanism. However, they still suffer from unclear repair mechanisms and physicochemical evolution. In this study, spent graphite was repaired employing three methodologies: pickling-sintering, pyrogenic-recovery, and high-temperature sintering. Owing to the catalytic effect of the metal-based impurities and temperature control, the as-obtained samples displayed an ordered transformation, including the interlayer distance, crystalline degree, and grain size. As anodes of lithium ions batteries, the capacity of repaired samples reached up to 310 mA h g−1 above after 300 loops at 1.0 C, similar to that of commercial graphite. Meanwhile, benefitting from the effective assembly of carbon atoms in internal structure of graphite at >1400 °C, their initial coulombic efficiency were >87%. Even at 2.0 C, the capacity of samples remained approximately 244 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles. Detailed electrochemical and kinetic analyses revealed that a low temperature enhanced the isotropy, thereby enhancing the rate properties. Further, economic and environmental analyses revealed that the revenue obtained through suitable pyrogenic-recovering manners was approximately the largest value (5500 $ t−1). Thus, this study is expected to clarify the in-depth effect of different repair methods on the traits of graphite, while offering all-round evaluations of repaired graphite.

Ultra-fast recovery of cathode materials from spent LiFePO4 lithium-ion batteries by novel electromagnetic separation technology

The separation of electrode materials from current collectors plays a significant role in determining the leaching efficiency of different metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In the presented research, a highly efficient, environmentally sustainable, and cost-effective cathode materials separation strategy was proposed for spent LiFePO4 batteries. Based on the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of the binder and aluminum foil, the electromagnetic induction system was examined to harvest cathode materials for the first time, which could provide a high heating rate to erase the mechanical interlocking force between Al foil and coated material, and breaking the chemical bond or Van der Waals forces of the binder. The process avoids the usage of any chemicals such as acids and alkalis, thus eliminating the emission of wastewater. Our system shows ultra-fast separation (3 min) and achieves high-purity of recovered electrode materials and Al foils (99.6% and 99.2%). Furthermore, the morphology and crystalline structure of delaminated electrode materials remain almost the same compared with the pristine materials, which provides a previously unexplored technology to realize sustainable spent battery recycling.

Perspective of availability and sustainable recycling prospects of metals in rechargeable batteries – A resource overview

The growing need for strategic and rare earth elements (REE) led to an enormous interest in the development of new technologies for the recycling and recovery of these metals from secondary resources especially batteries. The primary reserves, production scenario and possible secondary resources of cobalt, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel, REE, and zinc, with respect of metal content, quantity, the source of generation is discussed. The purpose of this review is to depict the status of the recycling technologies for the extraction of metals inherent in primary and secondary batteries from secondary resources like process wastes, catalysts, effluents, metal and alloy scrap, e-wastes, mine tailings, and metallurgical slags and spent batteries, depicting a summary of those under-utilized wastes. Also, the problems and the prospect of the studies of their recycling technologies especially focused on the hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes have been put forward. The future avenues in spent battery recycling are also discussed with respect to the directions of research needed for their sustainable utilization and environmental management.

Electroanalytical determination of soluble Mn(II) species at high concentration levels

Glassy carbon electrodes have been successfully employed for the determination, by differential pulse voltammetry, of Mn(II) ions dissolved in aqueous solutions. In particular, a simple and fast procedure also suitable for on-line or at-line process control has been developed. Statistical analysis of the results obtained reveals that the procedure can be adopted in the range 0.59–57.30mM Mn(II). The electrochemical responses are repeatable and reproducible. Repeatability is testified by the lack of variation of peak current values calculated from 20 subsequent scans carried out at the maximum explored concentration (relative standard deviation <1%). Reproducibility of the responses is supported by the data from the responses on three different electrodes. The proposed procedure does not require any pre-concentration of Mn species at the electrode surface or de-aeration of the solution. By adopting the developed procedure for the analysis, the GC electrode demonstrates to be suitable also for application in real matrices, namely solutions from spent battery recycling; in particular the results from the present electrochemical method are not significantly different from those obtained through inductively plasma coupled mass spectrometry. Interference from other metal species, such as Zn(II) and Fe(III), is negligible. This result is particularly meaningful, since the experimental conditions chosen, implying particularly high concentrations of heavy metals, are representative of those adopted in recovery and recycle processes of Mn species from batteries.

Lithium recycling and cathode material regeneration from acid leach liquor of spent lithium-ion battery via facile co-extraction and co-precipitation processes

A novel process for extracting transition metals, recovering lithium and regenerating cathode materials based on facile co-extraction and co-precipitation processes has been developed. 100% manganese, 99% cobalt and 85% nickel are co-extracted and separated from lithium by D2EHPA in kerosene. Then, Li is recovered from the raffinate as Li2CO3 with the purity of 99.2% by precipitation method. Finally, organic load phase is stripped with 0.5M H2SO4, and the cathode material LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 is directly regenerated from stripping liquor without separating metal individually by co-precipitation method. The regenerative cathode material LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 is miro spherical morphology without any impurities, which can meet with LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 production standard of China and exhibits good electrochemical performance. Moreover, a waste battery management model is introduced to guarantee the material supply for spent battery recycling.

Enhanced recycling network for spent e-bicycle batteries: A case study in Xuzhou, China

Electric bicycles (e-bicycles) are a primary means of commuting in China because of their light weight, speed, and low maintenance costs. Owing to short service life and environmental pollution hazards, recycling and reuse of e-bicycle batteries has always been a focus of industry and academia. As a typical case of both production and use of large electric bicycles, 113 major sellers, 378 corporate and individual buyers, 147 large e-bicycle repair centers, and 1317 e-bicycle owners in Xuzhou City were investigated in order to understand the sales, use, recycling, and disposal of spent e-bicycle batteries. The findings show that the existing distempered recycling system is the main limitation of spent battery recovery, and the actual recovery rate of spent batteries is lower than the estimated output (QW) for the years 2011–2014. Electric bicycle sellers play a fundamental role in the collection of spent batteries in Xuzhou, accounting for 42.3±8.3% of all batteries recovered. The widespread use of lithium batteries in recent years has resulted in a reduction in spent battery recycling because of lower battery prices. Furthermore, consumer preferences are another important factor affecting the actual recovery rate according to survey results evaluated using canonical correspondence analysis. In this paper, we suggest that a reverse logistics network system for spent battery recycling should be established in the future; in addition, enhancing producer responsibility, increasing publicity, raising of public awareness, developing green public transport, and reducing dependence on e-bicycles also should be pursued. This study seeks to provide guidance for planning construction and management policies for an effective spent battery recycling system in China and other developing countries.