An advanced strategy of “metallurgy before sorting” for recycling spent entire ternary lithium-ion batteries

From the resource conservation and environmental protection viewpoint, it is essential to adopt sustainable methods to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries. In this work, a closed-loop process was developed for recycling spent entire ternary lithium-ion batteries, and systematic research was conducted. Reduction roasting with starch was first employed to treat spent ternary lithium-ion batteries that were discharged, disassembled and simply cut. Then, about 82% of lithium was leached through carbonation water leaching, followed by over 98% of nickel, cobalt and copper being selectively ammonia leached from the leaching residue. Subsequently, 99.9% of nickel and copper were extracted from the ammonia leachate by solvent extraction and 90.9% of cobalt was precipitated from the raffinate by ammonia evaporation, while for the ammonia leaching residue, simple screening and acid leaching were employed to recover aluminum foil and manganese. The proposed process simplifies the pretreatment, solution purification and solvent extraction process, greatly reduces the production of difficult-to-dispose waste residues and improves the recovery rate of valuable metals. Further, the closed-loop recycling of leaching agents greatly decreases recycling costs and avoids the discharge of highly salty wastewater. Overall, the whole process realizes the environmentally-friendly and efficient recovery of full components from spent entire ternary lithium-ion batteries.