Hydrometallurgical process for recovery of cobalt from waste cathodic active material generated during manufacturing of lithium ion batteries

The paper presents a new leaching-solvent extraction hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of a pure and marketable form of cobalt sulfate solution from waste cathodic active material generated during manufacturing of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Leaching of the waste was carried out as a function of the leachant H2SO4 concentration, temperature, pulp density and reductant H2O2 concentration. The 93% of cobalt and 94% of lithium were leached at suitable optimum conditions of pulp density: 100 g L−1, 2 M H2SO4, 5 vol.% of H2O2, with a leaching time 30 min and a temperature 75 °C. In subsequent the solvent extraction study, 85.42% of the cobalt was recovered using 1.5 M Cyanex 272 as an extractant at an O/A ratio of 1.6 from the leach liquor at pH 5.00. The rest of the cobalt was totally recovered from the raffinate using 0.5 M of Cyanex 272 and an O/A ratio of 1, and a feed pH of 5.35. Then the co-extracted lithium was scrubbed from the cobalt-loaded organic using 0.1 M Na2CO3. Finally, the cobalt sulfate solution with a purity 99.99% was obtained from the cobalt-loaded organic by stripping with H2SO4.