− The present paper deals with the extractive separation and selective recovery of nickel and lithium from the sulfate leachate of cathode scrap generated during the manufacture of LIBs. The conditions for extraction, scrubbing and stripping of nickel from lithium were optimized with an aqueous feed containing 2.54 kg·m -3 Ni and 4.82 kg·m -3 Li using PC-88A. Over 99.6% nickel was extracted with 0.15 kmol·m -3 PC-88A in two counter-current stages at O/A=1 and pH=6.5. Effective scrubbing Li from loaded organic was systematically studied with a dilute Na 2 CO 3 solution (0.10 kmol·m). The McCabe-Thiele diagram suggests two counter-current scrubbing stages are required at O/A=2/3 to yield lithium-scrubbing efficiency of 99.6%. The proposed process showed advantages of simplicity, and high purity (99.9%) nickel sulfate recovery along with lithium to ensure the complete recycling of the waste from LIBs manufacturing process.

It is generally well known that PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is a complex mixture of various metals mixed with various types of plastics and ceramics. Accordingly, it is very important to extract metallic components from used PCB’s from the point of view of recycling the used resources as well as the environmental protection. In this study, a high temperature pyro-metallurgical process was investigated to extract valuable metallic components from the used PCB’s. For this purpose, used PCB’s were shredded and oxidized to remove plastic materials, and then, a high frequency induction furnace was used to melt and separate metallic components in molten state from the remaining oxides. After the oxidation of the used PCB, 30.6wt% SiO2, 19.3wt% Al2O3 and 14wt% CaO were analyzed as major oxides, and thereafter, a typical composition of 32wt%SiO2-20wt%Al2O3-38wt%CaO -10wt%MgO was chosen as a basic slag system for the separation of metallic components Moreover, in order to understand the size effect on the extraction of metallic components, oxidized PCB’s were further milled, and then, melted. As a result, it was found that the size of oxidized PCB’s was needed to be less 0.9mm to make a homogeneous liquid slag and to recycle metallic components over 95%.

From materials view point, a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is a simple mixture of various metals, plastics and oxides. Thus, it can be regarded as urbanized resources or ores. The existence of valuable metallic components in used PCB, then, becomes a major driving force for the recycling In this study, the effect of slag compositions on the extraction of valuable metallic components from the used PCB is investigated. Especially, a melting temperature of slag and slag viscosity are discussed as major operating parameters. PCB contains nearly 30wt% of SiO2 and 20wt% of Al2O3 as major oxides, and by just adding other flux components to used PCB, 20wt%Al2O3-Xwt%SiO2 - Ywt%CaO-10wt%MgO slag system with low melting point and low slag viscosity can be made to extract metallic components from used PCB by gravity separation. The slag basicity was changed under fixed compositions of Al2O3 and MgO. It was found that a proper melting temperature and slag basicity to make a homogeneous liquid slag and to extract metallic components from used PCB were 1573 K, and 0.75, respectively.

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Various crystalline Li-M-Silicate (M=Mg, Al, Ti) composite compounds were prepared and their cation transport properties examined. The extent of reaction was tested under the fixed M:Si molar ratio of 1 by changing the Li molar ratios from 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 to 1. The physiochemical properties of the materials obtained were analyzed by using ICP-AES, XRD, TG/DTA and SEM and conductivity measurements were carried out with an LCR meter. According to the results found in the substituted polyvalent M n+ ion and the added lithium contents, each polycrystalline sample showed various crystal structures and conductivity. The highest conductivity was obtained from Li-Al-Silicate compound (Li : Al : Si=0.3 : 1 : 1), which contains the Al 6 Si 2 O 13 -LiAlSiO 4 transient phase to facilitate free space for the lithium ions mobility in the crystal lattice.