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Processes and Technologies for the Recycling and Recovery of Spent Lithium Ion Batteries
Published in Thandavarayan Maiyalagan, Perumal Elumalai, Rechargeable Lithium-ion Batteries: Trends and Progress in Electric Vehicles, 2020
Zhi Sun, Weiguang Lv, Zhonghang Wang, Xiaohong Zheng, Hongbin Cao, Zhang Yi
Normally, almost all kinds of spent LIBs can be directly treated through a pyrometallurgical process without any pre-treatment. From a technological point of view, the main concern is not the metallurgical process itself, which is very simple and mature, but rather the cleaning of the off-gases and dust, given that the load contains a significant amount of organic components and graphite. In addition, in a typical pyrometallurgical process, Li will end up in the slag, and will need to be further recycled by a combination with other methods, like hydrometallurgical leaching. To extract Li in the forthcoming steps, carbothermal reduction method was proposed by Xu et al. [40–42], in which the mixed spent LIBs could be converted to metal oxide, pure metal, or lithium carbonate. In the subsequent leaching step, Li in the carbonate could be directly leached out in water. However, the treatment capacity of this method was limited by the solubility of lithium carbonate ( Li2CO3 ). To enhance the extraction efficiency of Li from lithium carbonate, Wang et al. used carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) to change the lithium carbonate into lithium bicarbonate ( LiHCO3 ) [43]. Other than these methods, in recent years, regeneration methods are being widely observed for simplicity and minimal environmental impact. For example, Nie et al. [44] regenerated lithium cobalt oxide, LiCoO2 from spent LiCoO2 with supplementary lithium carbonate, Li2CO3 at 800–900 °C for 12 h. The regenerated cathode materials can meet commercial requirements. Short technology avoids many risks of environmental pollution and reduces the loss of valuable metals compared with other technologies, though much more energy is required.
Review of Lithium Production and Recovery from Minerals, Brines, and Lithium-Ion Batteries
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 2021
Fei Meng, James McNeice, Shirin S. Zadeh, Ahmad Ghahreman
In the alkaline process, the β-spodumene concentrate is treated with limestone or soda ash to convert lithium silicates into a soluble form (usually carbonate or aluminate) (Archarnhault, Quebec and Olivier 1968; Cheminfo Services Inc. 2012; Kuang et al. 2018). The solution then reacts with carbon dioxide to convert lithium to aqueous lithium bicarbonate. Then, a solid-liquid separation unit is applied to separate the remaining salt and ore residue from the lithium carbonate solution (Cheminfo Services Inc. 2012; Swain 2017). The solution is then subjected to evaporation at around 90ºC to crystallize the lithium as Li2CO3 if soda ash is used for neutralization or as lithium hydroxide monohydrate if limestone is used for neutralization (Cheminfo Services Inc. 2012; Meshram, Pandey and Mankhand 2014). The lithium precipitate product is upgraded while the mother liquor, i.e., the liquor obtained after lithium crystallization, is recycled to the first stage of the process.