As lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are undergoing unprecedented
development
in electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable grids, recycling spent battery
disposal is becoming the dominating issue considering the urgent demand
for sustainable resources and eco-friendly development. However, existing
recovery methods for spent LIBs still suffer from complex processes
and low processing efficiency. Herein, an effective pyroprocessing-based
strategy was proposed to recycle spent lithium iron phosphate (LFP)
materials, featuring full element regeneration and conversion of high-value
products. Specifically, over 99% Li was extracted and converted into
high purity lithium carbonate (>99%), while Fe and P were further
converted into value-added Fe2P2O7 and Na4P2O7, respectively. Due
to the benefits of high efficiency of metal extraction and the reuse
of all valuable elements, the pyroprocessing-based strategy potentially
generates the profit of 1.44 $ kg–1 of LFP batteries,
over three times more than that of the conventional hydrometallurgical
process, while the discharges of wastewater and residue are reduced
by 66.3 and 93.9%, respectively. This study provides a new pyroprocessing-based
approach to the green recovery of all elements of LFP materials in
spent LFP batteries.