Bioleaching of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion mobile phone batteries using Aspergillus niger

Abstract

In this paper, a bio-hydrometallurgical route based on fungal activity of Aspergillus niger was evaluated for the detoxification and recovery of Cu, Li, Mn, Al, Co and Ni metals from spent lithium-ion phone mobile batteries under various conditions (one-step, two-step and spent medium bioleaching). The maximum recovery efficiency of 100% for Cu, 95% for Li, 70% for Mn, 65% for Al, 45% for Co, and 38% for Ni was obtained at pulp density of 1% in spent medium bioleaching. The HPLC results indicated that citric acid in comparison with other detected organic acids (gluconic, oxalic and malic acid) had an important role in the effectiveness of bioleaching using A. niger. The results of FTIR, XRD and FE-SEM analysis of battery powderbefore and after bioleaching process confirmed that the fungal activities were quite effective. In addition, bioleaching achieved higher removal efficiency for heavy metals than the chemical leaching. This research demonstrated the great potential of biohydrometallurgical route to recover heavy metals from spent lithium-ion mobile phone batteries.

Selective Parameters and Bioleaching Kinetics for Leaching Vanadium from Red Mud Using Aspergillus niger and Penicillium tricolor

“…The sucrose concentration achieving the maximal V extraction (143.44 and 141.82 g/L, respectively) was obviously lower than that achieving the maximal organic acids production (174.14 and 159.60 g/L, respectively) as well as achieving the maximal biomass (191.92 and 156.36 g/L, respectively), for both A. niger and P. tricolor. This indicates that the leached vanadium ions probably precipitated by reacting with an excess of metabolites or "sank" in hyphae through bioaccumulation and biosorption [15,30]. The best sucrose concentration of V leaching using A. niger and P. tricolor was 143.44 and 141.82 g/L, respectively.…”

“…Among all types of microorganisms used in bioleaching, fungi are especially suitable for alkaline wastes leaching, because they not only survive in high alkaline-saline habitats but also secrete plentiful organic acids. Aspergillus and Penicillium, two fungal genera involved in bioleaching of solid wastes (e.g., fly ash, spent catalyst, electronic waste, and activated sludge), have been studied the most frequently [15][16][17][18].…”

“…Generally, a higher metal leaching rate indicates a higher organic acids production of fungi, and a higher organic acids production indicates a higher fungal biomass in the bioleaching system [15,25]. How such factors influence the metal leaching rate has been previously studied [19,20].…”

Processos de Recuperação de Cobalto e de Lítio de Baterias de Íons de Lítio

“…A bateria Li-ion (LIB) é a fonte preferida de energia portátil para dispositivos eletrônicos devido as suas características favoráveis tais como pequenas dimensões, baixo peso, ausência de efeito de memória, alta densidade energética e bom desempenho (YANG et al, 2015;LI et al, 2014;HOREH et al, 2016). Estão presentes em 60% dos telefones celulares e cerca de 90% dos "laptops", além de serem componentes essenciais de baterias para veículos elétricos e híbridos (MESHRAM et al, 2015b).…”

“…Estes filmes são dispostos geralmente em formas cilíndricas ou prismática se aderidos a um polímero (exemplo, celulose modificada). O eletrólito é uma solução de sais de lítio (LiPF 6 , LiBF 4 , LiClO 4 , e LiSO 2 ) em solvente orgânico e o separador é feito de polipropileno (HOREH et al, 2016;KANG et al, 2013;AL-THYABAT et al, 2013;JHA et al, 2013).…”