Three ways to recycle used lithium batteries

The lithium battery was processed by the physical and chemical reaction method. The most common physical and chemical treatment methods are crushing flotation and mechanical grinding. 1) Crushing flotation methodThe flotation method of crushing is a method that uses different chemical and physical properties to meet the appearance of the material, that is, after the first complete waste of lithium battery is broken and separated, the electrode material will be heat treated to remove the organic binder. The powder is finally separated by flotation based on the difference in hydrophilicity between the powder and graphite of the lithium cobalt oxide electrode material, and then the lithium cobalt composite powder is restored. The crushing flotation process is simple, can effectively separate lithium cobalt oxide and carbon data, and the recovery rate of lithium cobalt is high. However, since various materials are broken and mixed, subsequent copper foil, aluminum foil and metal shell fragments are difficult to separate and recycle. In addition, fragmentation can easily cause volatile gases such as HF and electrolyte LiPF6 to react with H2O to form environmental pollution, so attention should be paid to the fragmentation method. 2) Mechanical grinding method The mechanical grinding method uses the thermal energy of mechanical grinding to promote the reaction between the electrode data and the grinding data, and converts the lithium compound originally bound to the collector fluid in the electrode data into salt. Different types of grinding auxiliary materials have different recovery rates. A higher recovery rate can be achieved: Co is 98% and Li is 99%. Mechanical grinding is also an effective method for recovering cobalt and lithium from waste lithium batteries. The process is relatively simple, but with more equipment, it is easy to cause the loss of cobalt, and it is difficult to recover the aluminum foil. Chemical method Chemical method is a method of processing lithium batteries through a chemical reaction process, generally divided into two methods: high temperature metallurgy and hydrometallurgy. 1) Pyrometallurgy Pyrometallurgy, also known as combustion or dry metallurgy, after high-temperature combustion, removes the electrode material of the organic binder, and makes the appearance of the metal and its compound in the oxidation-reduction reaction, and the recovery in the form of condensation Low-boiling slag metals of metals and their compounds are selected by pyrolysis or chemical methods such as screening and magnetic separation. The demand for pyrometallurgical materials and components is not high. Appropriate big plans to deal with more chaotic batteries, but part of the exhaust gas that will definitely attack the combustion will pollute the environment, and the high-temperature treatment equipment requirements are also high, but purification and recycling equipment must be added, such as High processing cost. 2) Hydrometallurgy Hydrometallurgy is a method of selectively dissolving the positive electrode data in the waste lithium battery and separating the metal elements in the leaching solution with suitable chemical reagents. Hydrometallurgy is more suitable for recycling waste lithium batteries with a relatively single chemical composition. It can be used alone or in combination with high temperature metallurgy. It requires less equipment and low processing costs. It is a mature treatment method, suitable for recycling planning of small and medium-sized lithium batteries. 2.3 Bio-biometallurgy is also under research, using the metabolic process of microorganisms to achieve selective leaching of metal elements such as cobalt and lithium. Biological energy consumption is low, cost is low, and microorganisms can be reused, and pollution is small; but the cultivation conditions of microorganisms are strict, the cultivation time is long, and the leaching rate is low, and the technology needs to be further improved. Disclaimer: Some pictures and content of the articles published on this site are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete.