Study on Roasting for Selective Lithium Leaching of Cathode Active Materials from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Recently, many studies have been conducted on the materialization of spent batteries. In conventional cases, lithium is recovered from an acidic solution through the leaching and separation of valuable metals; however, it is difficult to remove impurities because lithium is recovered in the last step. Cathode active materials of lithium-ion batteries comprise oxides with lithium, such as LiNixCoyMnzO2 and LiCoO2. Thus, lithium should be converted into a compound that can be leached in deionized water for selective lithium leaching. Recent studies on the leaching and recovery of Li2CO3 through a carbon reduction reaction show low economic efficiency, due to the solubility of Li2CO3 at room temperature being as low as 13 g/L. This paper proposes a method of roasting after nitric acid deposition for selective lithium leaching and recovery to LiNO3. Based on experiments involving the varying of the amount of nitric acid, roasting temperature, and solid–liquid ratio, optimal values were found to be dipping in 10 M HNO3 2 mL/g, roasting at 275 °C, and deionized water with a solid–liquid ratio of 10 mL/g, respectively. Over 80% Li leaching was possible under these conditions. IC analysis confirmed that the purity was 97% lithium nitrate.

Toward practical lithium-ion battery recycling: adding value, tackling circularity and recycling-oriented design

“…Salt-assisted roasting (SAR) is another roasting method, which converts the various metal elements into water-soluble products. 39,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] SAR is categorized, depending on reagent used, as (1) sulfation, [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] (2) chlorination 39,[62][63][64][65][66][67] or (3) nitration, roasting. 68,69 In sulfation roasting, reagents including, MgSO 4 , NH 4 SO 4 , NaHSO 4 ÁH 2 O and Na 2 SO 4 have been reported to produce readily soluble Li 2 SO 4 (257 g L À1 , 20 1C).…”

“…39,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] SAR is categorized, depending on reagent used, as (1) sulfation, [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] (2) chlorination 39,[62][63][64][65][66][67] or (3) nitration, roasting. 68,69 In sulfation roasting, reagents including, MgSO 4 , NH 4 SO 4 , NaHSO 4 ÁH 2 O and Na 2 SO 4 have been reported to produce readily soluble Li 2 SO 4 (257 g L À1 , 20 1C). Chlorination roasting uses reagents including HCl (g), NH 4 Cl, NaCl and Cl 2 (g) to produce soluble metal chlorides (832 g L À1 , 20 1C).…”

Technological options and design evolution for recycling spent lithium‐ion batteries: Impact, challenges, and opportunities

“…After leaching, the metal components are recovered from the solution by reactions and precipitations which vary the pH value. Typically, cobalt is recovered in the form of sulfate (Vieceli et al, 2021), hydroxide (Schiavi et al, 2021), carbonate (Jung et al, 2021), or oxalate (Verma et al, 2021). Lithium is recovered as carbonate or phosphate (Liu et al, 2019).…”

Study of the Carbochlorination Process with CaCl2 and Water Leaching for the Extraction of Lithium from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…Hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy are the most typical methods [18][19][20]. Hydrometallurgy uses different leaching agents, including hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO 3 ), and phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ), to extract the targeted metals [21][22][23]. Whereas pyrometallurgy uses heat to induce a chemical change in the components of the LIBs to extract the metals of interest.…”