Resourceful Treatment of Battery Recycling Wastewater Containing H2SO4 and NiSO4 by Diffusion Dialysis and Electrodialysis

Abstract

Facing the increasing demand for batteries worldwide, recycling waste lithium batteries has become one of the important ways to address the problem. However, this process generates a large amount of wastewater which contains high concentration of heavy metals and acids. Deploying lithium battery recycling would cause severe environmental hazards, would pose risks to human health, and would also be a waste of resources. In this paper, a combined process of diffusion dialysis (DD) and electrodialysis (ED) is proposed to separate, recover, and utilize Ni2+ and H2SO4 in the wastewater. In the DD process, the acid recovery rate and Ni2+ rejection rate could reach 75.96% and 97.31%, respectively, with a flow rate of 300 L/h and a W/A flow rate ratio of 1:1. In the ED process, the recovered acid from DD is concentrated from 43.1 g/L to 150.2 g/L H2SO4 by the two-stage ED, which could be used in the front-end procedure of battery recycling process. In conclusion, a promising method for the treatment of battery wastewater which achieved the recycling and utilization of Ni2+ and H2SO4 was proposed and proved to have industrial application prospects.

Comparison of Anion-Exchange Membranes for Diffusion Dialysis of Mixtures of Acids and Their Iron Salts

“…In recent years, several studies have been carried out on the regeneration of acid waste liquids by diffusion dialysis [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In the literature [ 3 ], diffusion dialysis was used for the treatment of spent desoldering solutions with the content of tin, iron, copper, and lead in HNO 3 .…”

“…Zhang et al [ 11 ] proposed a pressure-concentration diffusion dialysis process to overcome the limitations of diffusion dialysis, such as low processing capacity and water osmosis. A combined hybrid membrane process of diffusion dialysis and electrodialysis was used to recycle sulfuric acid from the spent copper plating solution (containing FeSO 4 , and CuSO 4 ) [ 12 ] to treat battery recycling wastewater containing H 2 SO 4 and NiSO 4 [ 13 ] or to recover acids (hydrochloric, nitric, and sulfuric) from metallurgical acid wastewater containing Fe n+ salts [ 14 ]. In [ 15 ], a counter-current dialyzer with a Neosepta-AFN membrane was used to separate the model mixture of hydrofluoric acid and ferric nitrate and a real spent pickling solution.…”

“…Batch dialysis was used, for example, for the separation of an aqueous solution of HCl + FeCl 2 [ 16 ] or for the separation of an HNO 3 + Fe(NO 3 ) 3 mixture [ 17 ] using an anion-exchange membrane Neosepta-AFN. In the case of continuous processes, the most widely used type of membrane modules is the flat plate dialyzer [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]; however, spiral wound diffusion dialysis membrane modules have attracted much attention recently. A spiral wound module with the Fumasep-FAD membrane was, e.g., used to separate H 2 SO 4 and Cu 2+ and Fe 2+ salts [ 18 ] and to separate HCl and Zn 2+ , Cr 3+ , Ni 2+ , and Fe 2+ salts [ 19 ].…”