Selective Recovery of Li and Fe from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by an Environmentally Friendly Mechanochemical Approach

Ersha Fan, Li Li, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Yifan Bian, Qing Xue, Jiawei Wu, Feng Wu, Renjie Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

174 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recycling of spent LiFePO4 batteries has drawn recent attention relating to recovering their high contents of rare elements and negating potential negative environmental effects of their disposal. However, the stable crystal structure of LiFePO4 materials has prevented the development of a recycling process with high selectivity and extraction efficiency. We report the selective extraction of Fe and Li from spent LiFePO4 batteries via an environmentally friendly mechanochemical process with oxalic acid. With the use of a mechanochemical treatment and water leaching, the Li extraction efficiency can be improved to 99%. Furthermore, 94% of Fe can be simultaneously recovered as FeC2O4·2H2O. To understand the reaction mechanism and determine the optimum reaction conditions, we investigated various parameters, including the LiFePO4 to oxalic acid mass ratio, rotation speed, milling time, and ball-to-powder mass ratio. Moreover, metal ions from the water leaching process were recovered by chemical precipitation. This study provides an efficient and selective process for recovery of valuable metals from spent LiFePO4 materials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11029-11035
Number of pages7
JournalACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Volume6
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Aug 2018

Keywords

  • Mechanochemical method
  • Oxalic acid
  • Spent LiFePO batteries
  • Water leaching

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