Pyrolysis of cellulose with cathode materials recovered from spent binary and ternary lithium-ion batteries

This paper reported a novel study on the kinetics and products of cellulose pyrolysis with two common-used cathode materials of LiCoO2 (LCO) and LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (LNCMO) recovered from spent binary and ternary lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The addition of cathode material decreased the temperature of maximum decomposition rate, which was transferred to a lower temperature following the order of Cel + LCO (366 °C) < Cel + LNCMO (368 °C) < Cel (372 °C). Transition metal oxides present in the cathode materials were reduced into metallic states. The addition of LCO with a higher activity than LNCMO could reduce the activation energy of cellulose pyrolysis from 141 kJ/mol to 112 kJ/mol as the distributed activation energy model (DAEM) method used. In addition, both LCO and LNCMO showed excellent catalytic performance in converting anhydrosugars to hydrocarbons (e.g., long-chain alkanes). In the addition of LNCMO, the content of anhydrosugars reduced from 35% to 8%, whereas the content of hydrocarbons increased from 2% to 52%. Compared with LCO, LNCMO resulted in a higher content of hydrocarbons, which was mostly caused by its considerable catalytic effect in transformation of furans and light oxygenates to olefins and aromatics through the decarboxylation reactions. Therefore, LCO and LNCMO could be used as catalysts for biomass pyrolysis in terms of activation energy reduction and products upgrading.