Effective Leaching Strategies for a Closed-Loop Spent Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Process

Recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries using microbial agents for bioleaching: a review

“…Other elements detected in spent LIBs at varying concentrations include nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) ( Table 1 ). The concentration of Cu, Ni and Mn in spent LIBs varies between 6–12%, 5–10% and 5–11%, respectively ( Roy et al, 2021a ; Ratnam et al, 2022 ). The concentration of these elements varies in natural ores depending on the types of minerals (e.g., primary vs. secondary minerals, or based on the chemical groups, e.g., sulfide, arsenide, carbonate, oxide-containing ores) ( Dehaine et al, 2021 ).…”

“…As a result of a significant increase of LIBs production worldwide, the price of some of the metals used in LIBs considerably increased, e.g., the Co price increased nearly 4 times in the last 2 years, from US$ 22 /kg to US$ 81 /kg ( Du et al, 2022 ). According to a recent study, the price of Li also increased by three-times ( Ratnam et al, 2022 ). Fan et al (2020) reported that the average price of Co was US$ 75,991.27/ton in 2018, which was 10 and 5 times higher than that of Mn and Ni, respectively.…”

“…Furthermore, the toxic organic electrolytes/solvents used in LIBs could have adverse impacts on the human health and environment ( Fan et al, 2020 ). The polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene used in separators could also pose negative environmental effects (e.g., cause microplastic pollution) ( Golmohammadzadeh et al, 2022 ; Ratnam et al, 2022 ). The spent LIBs are considered as secondary source of metals, and sometimes, the metal quantity (e.g., concentration) is higher than what is available in the concentrated ores or natural ores ( Xi et al, 2015 ).…”

“…It is reported that recycling and reuse of valuable metals namely Co and Ni from spent LIBs could save 51.3% of natural resources and reduce the mining of metals from the virgin mineral sources ( Dewulf et al, 2010 ). The recovered valuable metals from spent LIBs can be reused in LIBs or other products including supercapacitors ( Ratnam et al, 2022 ). The commonly used recycling methods for spent LIBs include direct recycling, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and biohydrometallurgy (bioleaching) ( Golmohammadzadeh et al, 2022 ; Roy et al, 2022 ).…”

All-element recovery and regeneration of mixed LiNixCoyMn1−x−yO2/LiFePO4 cathode materials by synergistic redox processes

“…In the recycling strategy of positive electrode materials, separation recovery 8 and direct repair and regeneration 9 are the two main methods. Separation recovery usually includes steps such as dissolution, element separation and reprecipitation to obtain high-purity single metal salts, while direct repair regeneration pays more attention to in situ repair of materials, such as lithium insertion repair and surface layer repair.…”