Artificial wastewater treatment from recycling process of LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries using activated carbon
Abstract In 2025, the demand of Li-ion batteries is estimated to reach 400,000 tons. A strategic effort is needed especially in the battery industry to realize sustainable use of Li-ion batteries. Spent batteries are being recycled using hydrometallurgical process to collect the lithium. This purifying process consists of leaching and precipitation which results in finding of lithium and sodium ions in the wastewater. To use water efficiently, wastewater is projected to be reused in the hydrometallurgical process. In order to do that, metal ions must be reduced from water to meet quality standards. In this experiment, granular activated carbon (GAC) and activated carbon block (CTO) were used as the adsorbent in a 30 minutes semi-continuous system. Samples were taken at 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes at room temperature. Based on the result, granular activated carbon’s highest percentage of removal were 11.71% for lithium and 19.51% for sodium, and activated carbon block’s highest percentage of removal were 10.33% for lithium and 14.65% for sodium. It is observed from this experiment that the capacity of both adsorbents to remove lithium and sodium ions decreased after 20 minutes.