An overview of global power lithium-ion batteries and associated critical metal recycling

Environmental pollution from critical materials loss from spent automotive lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is a major global concern. Practical LIBs recycling obviates pollution, saves resources and boosts sustainability. However, despite increasing...

Toward practical lithium-ion battery recycling: adding value, tackling circularity and recycling-oriented design

Pursuing green and efficient process towards recycling of different metals from spent lithium-ion batteries through Ferro-chemistry

The number of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is constantly increasing as their popularity grows. It is important to develop a recycling method that not only can convert large amounts of waste anode graphite into high value-added products but also is simple and environmentally friendly. In this work, spent graphite from an anode was transformed into a cathode for dual-ion batteries (DIBs) through a two-step treatment. This method enables the crystal structure and morphology of spent graphite to recover from the adverse effects of long cycling and be restored to a regular layered structure with appropriate layer spacing for anion intercalation. In addition, pyrolysis of the solid electrolyte interphase into an amorphous carbon layer prevents the electrode from degrading and improves its cycling performance. The recycled negative graphite has a high reversible capacity of 87 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1, and its rate performance when used as a cathode in DIBs is comparable to that of commercial graphite. This simple recycling idea turns spent anode graphite into a cathode material with attractive potential and superior electrochemical performance, genuinely achieving sustainable energy use. It also provides a new method for recovering exhausted batteries.

Advanced cathode for dual-ion batteries: Waste-to-wealth reuse of spent graphite from lithium-ion batteries

With the growing awareness to protect the urban environment and the increasing demand for strategic materials, recycling of postconsumer lithium-ion batteries has become imperative. This study aims...

Closed-Loop Recycling of Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, and Manganese from Waste Lithium-Ion Batteries of Electric Vehicles

With the expansion of lithium-ion battery market and the awareness of environmental protection, the development of green and sustainable technologies to recycle waste lithium-ion batteries has become urgent. Electrodialysis is an emerging green process to recover valuable metals from postconsumer lithium-ion batteries. This study focuses on the separation and recovery of lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt from LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 chemistry of lithium-ion batteries using electrodialysis. Prior to the electrodialysis experiment, complexation of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) with four different metals is assessed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Using the developed three-stage electrodialysis process, 99.3% of nickel is separated in stage 1 and 87.3% of cobalt is then separated in stage 2 using electrodialysis coupled with EDTA. About 99% of lithium is sequentially separated from manganese in stage 3 using electrodialysis with a monovalent cation-exchange membrane. After the electrodialysis experiment, nickel and cobalt are decomplexed from EDTA at pH below 0.5 and all four metals are recovered with high purity of >99%. Electrodialysis offers a new route to recycle lithium-ion batteries with twofold benefits of providing a secondary source for strategic materials and reducing the number of lithium-ion batteries that are landfilled after they reach their end of life.

Separation of lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt from waste lithium-ion batteries using electrodialysis

Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is one of the most effective, inexpensive, flexible, and simplest analytical techniques to measure species concentration in the liquid phase. It has a wide range of applications such as wastewater treatment, dye degradation, colloidal nanoparticle characterization. It is used in almost every spectroscopy laboratory for routine analysis or research. In the present study, a feasibility study was carried out to find the application of UV-Vis spectroscopy for onsite measurement of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium as a replacement for the conventional method to measure the concentrations of these elements in battery and other applicable industries. Samples with different concentrations of individual elements and composites were prepared and analyzed using an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer. Based on the obtained results, mathematical relationships between concentration and absorbance were defined. The calculated concentration of different elements using the developed relationships was compared with the measured concentration using ICP-OES to find any deviation between the two. The effect of various parameters such as concentration, path length, number of elements in the solution, density, and pH was analyzed to verify the feasibility. The obtained results show that this technique can be effectively used to measure the concentration of nickel and cobalt with high accuracy.

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Quantification of nickel, cobalt, and manganese concentration using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy

This study puts the emphasis on developing and optimizing efficient hydrometallurgical processes to recycle a lithium-ion battery of an electric vehicle utilizing systematic experimental and theoretical approaches based on design of experiment methodology. Two leachants, i.e., HCl and H2SO4 + H2O2 were utilized and on the basis of fractional factorial design for the metal leaching efficiency, the most effective leachant was selected as H2SO4 + H2O2. In this case, 1.5 M H2SO4 with 1.0 wt% H2O2 at a liquid-to-solid ratio of 20 mL g−1 and temperature of 50 °C for 60 min resulted in the recovery of 100% lithium, 98.4% cobalt, 98.6% nickel, and 98.6% manganese. Moreover, a process mechanism of H2SO4 + H2O2 leaching of all four metals was proposed. Finally, the Co, Ni, and Mn co-precipitate and Li2CO3 precipitate were combined to regenerate a new cathode active material.

Recycling of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Battery of Electric Vehicles

With high specific capacity, high nominal voltage, low self-discharge, and low cost, layered LiNixMnCo1-x-yO2 (NMC) cathode has gained interest for second-generation lithium-ion batteries. Because the performance of Li-ion batteries highly depends on the composition, crystallography, morphology, and other parameters decided during synthesis, interest in developing high-performance Li-ion batteries has motivated researchers to develop novel synthesis methods to control these parameters. Although significant progress has been made in several synthesis methods such as sol–gel, hydrothermal, solid-state reaction, and emulsion drying at lab scale, an industrially viable synthesis approach is needed for the cost-effective production of highly efficient NMC cathode materials. This paper summarises the common synthesis methods investigated at laboratory and industrial scales for new and regenerated NMC cathode from end-of-life Li-ion batteries and their effect on the battery performance. It is found that co-precipitation is the most commonly used method to produce NMC cathode, while spray pyrolysis is commonly used at the industrial scale.

Ka Ho Chan

Papers

Closed-Loop Recycling of Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, and Manganese from Waste Lithium-Ion Batteries of Electric Vehicles

Separation of lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt from waste lithium-ion batteries using electrodialysis

Quantification of nickel, cobalt, and manganese concentration using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy

Recycling of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Battery of Electric Vehicles

Effect of Synthesis Method on the Electrochemical Performance of LiNi x MnCo 1-x-y O 2 (NMC) Cathode for Li-Ion Batteries: A Review