Influence of alkaline pre-treatment on acid dissolution of cathode material of 18650 lithium battery

Amalia, D., Singh, P., Zhang, W. and Nikoloski, A.N. (2021) Influence of alkaline pre-treatment on acid dissolution of cathode material of 18650 lithium battery. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 882 (1). Art. 012001.

Abstract

Lithium battery cathodes contain lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Recycling of spent lithium batteries aims to recover these elements for re-use. Liberation of cathode materials from other metals in the battery such as aluminium, copper, and iron, is essential to obtain a good leaching efficiency in the recovery of valuable metals from end-of-life lithium batteries. This study investigates the behaviour of cathode materials and other metals in spent 18650 lithium batteries during leaching in H2SO4 solution with and without NaOH pre-treatment. Dissolution of aluminium using NaOH is a selective method to separate the metal from other elements. The influence of a 2-hour NaOH pre-treatment on subsequent acid leaching of cathode materials was investigated at both room temperature and 80°C. The extraction of aluminium increased to 75% at a higher temperature. Lithium concentration in the pregnant leach solution from acid leaching also increases with NaOH pre-treatment. The pre-treatment had a negligible effect on nickel, manganese, iron, and copper extraction. However, the cobalt extraction with NaOH pre-treatment was significantly lower. The result was likely due to indirect impact of less hydrogen gas was generated from a lower Al amount. The lattice structure of the leach residue for the sample with NaOH pre-treatment was monoclinic rather than rhombohedral due to stronger delithiation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	Engineering and Energy Centre for Water, Energy and Waste Harry Butler Institute
Publisher:	IOP Science
Copyright:	© 2021 The Authors.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/63425

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