Lithium recycling and cathode material regeneration from acid leach liquor of spent lithium-ion battery via facile co-extraction and co-precipitation processes

Abstract

A novel process for extracting transition metals, recovering lithium and regenerating cathode materials based on facile co-extraction and co-precipitation processes has been developed. 100% manganese, 99% cobalt and 85% nickel are co-extracted and separated from lithium by D2EHPA in kerosene. Then, Li is recovered from the raffinate as Li₂CO₃ with the purity of 99.2% by precipitation method. Finally, organic load phase is stripped with 0.5M H₂SO₄, and the cathode material LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ is directly regenerated from stripping liquor without separating metal individually by co-precipitation method. The regenerative cathode material LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ is miro spherical morphology without any impurities, which can meet with LiNi_1/3Co_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ production standard of China and exhibits good electrochemical performance. Moreover, a waste battery management model is introduced to guarantee the material supply for spent battery recycling.

Keywords: Co-extraction; Regeneration; Spent lithium-ion battery; Valuable metals.