Recovery of metal values from spent lithium-ion batteries with chemical deposition and solvent extraction

This paper describes a new recycling process of metal values from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). After the dismantling of the spent batteries steel crusts, the leaching of battery internal substances with alkaline solution and the dissolving of the residues with H2SO4 solution were carried out. Then mass cobalt was chemically deposited as oxalate, and Acorga M5640 and Cyanex272 extracted the small quantities of copper and cobalt, respectively. Lithium was recovered as deposition of lithium carbonate. It is shown that about 90% cobalt was deposited as oxalate with less than 0.5% impurities, and Acorga M5640 and Cyanex272 were efficient and selective for the extraction of copper and cobalt in sulfate solution. Over 98% of the copper and 97% of the cobalt was recovered in the given process. In addition, the waste solution was treated innocuously, and LiCoO2 positive electrode material with good electrochemical performance was also synthesized by using the recovered compounds of cobalt and lithium as precursors. The process is feasible for the recycling of spent LIBs in scale-up.