Direct selective leaching of lithium from industrial-grade black mass of waste lithium-ion batteries containing LiFePO4 cathodes

Tianyu Zhao; Rajashekhar Marthi; Harshit Mahandra; Sujin Chae; Michael Traversy; Farzaneh Sadri; Yeonuk Choi; Ahmad Ghahreman

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2023.08.030

Direct selective leaching of lithium from industrial-grade black mass of waste lithium-ion batteries containing LiFePO₄ cathodes

Waste Manag. 2023 Aug 30:171:134-142. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.08.030. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tianyu Zhao¹, Rajashekhar Marthi², Harshit Mahandra², Sujin Chae², Michael Traversy², Farzaneh Sadri², Yeonuk Choi², Ahmad Ghahreman³

Affiliations

¹ Hydrometallurgy and Environment Laboratory, The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen's University, 25 Union Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6, Canada; School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. Electronic address: Tianyu.zhao@queensu.ca.
² Hydrometallurgy and Environment Laboratory, The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen's University, 25 Union Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6, Canada.
³ Hydrometallurgy and Environment Laboratory, The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen's University, 25 Union Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6, Canada. Electronic address: ahmad.g@queensu.ca.

PMID: 37657286
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.08.030

Abstract

Demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is projected to maintain unprecedented acceleration for decades, towards satisfying international climate and source objectives. LIB wastes pose a threat to the environment, but also may be considered a strategic, high-grade resource. Yet, recycling the black mass of waste LIBs, which contains plastic, C, Li, Fe, Ni, Co, Mn, Cu, and Al, is very complex. Herein, the direct selective leaching of Li from the industrial-grade black mass powder of waste LIBs is proposed for the first time. Results demonstrated that the leaching efficiency of Li is shown to exceed 97%, while other metals remain below 1%. The mechanism of selective leaching was also investigated in this study. Under the experimental conditions, Fe is not leached out and remains in the form of solid FePO₄. As for other impurity metal elements, they are removed from the solution due to the alkaline environment of the post-leaching solution and the adsorption effect of the anodic carbon. Furthermore, the alkaline post-leaching solution can avoid the neutralizing stage before the precipitation of lithium salts. This highly efficient and Li-selective leaching strategy offers a broadly applicable approach to reclaiming critical energy minerals from the black mass of wasted LIBs.

Keywords: Black mass; Lithium; Recycling; Selective leaching; Waste lithium-ion batteries.