A Novel Pyrometallurgical Recycling Process for Lithium-Ion Batteries and Its Application to the Recycling of LCO and LFP

The bottleneck of recycling chains for spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is the recovery of valuable metals from the black matter that remains after dismantling and deactivation in pre‑treatment processes, which has to be treated in a subsequent step with pyrometallurgical and/or hydrometallurgical methods. In the course of this paper, investigations in a heating microscope were conducted to determine the high-temperature behavior of the cathode materials lithium cobalt oxide (LCO—chem., LiCoO2) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP—chem., LiFePO4) from LIB with carbon addition. For the purpose of continuous process development of a novel pyrometallurgical recycling process and adaptation of this to the requirements of the LIB material, two different reactor designs were examined. When treating LCO in an Al2O3 crucible, lithium could be removed at a rate of 76% via the gas stream, which is directly and purely available for further processing. In contrast, a removal rate of lithium of up to 97% was achieved in an MgO crucible. In addition, the basic capability of the concept for the treatment of LFP was investigated whereby a phosphorus removal rate of 64% with a simultaneous lithium removal rate of 68% was observed.

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Graphenised Lithium Iron Phosphate and Lithium Manganese Silicate Hybrid Cathodes: Potentials for Application in Lithium‐ion Batteries

Electroanalysis ◽

10.1002/elan.202060435 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (12) ◽

pp. 2982-2999

Author(s):

Zolani Myalo ◽

Chinwe Oluchi Ikpo ◽

Assumpta Chinwe Nwanya ◽

Miranda Mengwi Ndipingwi ◽

Samantha Fiona Duoman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lithium Ion Batteries ◽

Lithium Iron Phosphate ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Iron Phosphate ◽

Manganese Silicate ◽

Lithium Manganese

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Furnace Temperature and Atmosphere Influences on Producing Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) Powders for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Conveyor Belt Furnace Thermal Processing ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-69730-7_15 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 113-121

Author(s):

Jinlong Xu ◽

Joyce Zhang ◽

Ken Kuang

Keyword(s):

Lithium Ion Batteries ◽

Lithium Iron Phosphate ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Iron Phosphate ◽

Furnace Temperature

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Iron Phosphates as Cathodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-0973-bb05-01 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 973 ◽

Author(s):

Shijun Wang ◽

M. Stanley Whittingham

Keyword(s):

Lithium Ion Batteries ◽

Lithium Iron Phosphate ◽

Low Cost ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Iron Phosphate ◽

Environmentally Benign ◽

Iron Phosphates ◽

Electrochemical Capacity ◽

High Theoretical Capacity ◽

Olivine Structure

ABSTRACTThis study focusses on optimizing the parameters of the hydrothermal synthesis to produce iron phosphates for lithium ion batteries, with an emphasis on pure LiFePO4 with the olivine structure and compounds containing a higher iron:phosphate ratio. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) is a promising cathode candidate for lithium ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity, environmentally benign and the low cost of starting materials. Well crystallized LiFePO4 can be successfully synthesized at temperatures above 150 °C. The addition of a reducing agent, such as hydrazine, is essential to minimize the oxidation of ferrous (Fe2+) to ferric (Fe3+) in the final compound. The morphology of LiFePO4 is highly dependent on the pH of the initial solution. This study also investigated the lipscombite iron phosphates of formula Fe1.33PO4OH. This compound has a log-like structure formed by Fe-O octahedral chains. The chains are partially occupied by the Fe3+ sites, and these iron atoms and some of the vacancies can be substituted by other cations. Most of the protons can be ion-exchanged for lithium, and the electrochemical capacity is much increased.

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Synthesis and Characterization of Mg and Ti Ions Co-Doped Lithium Iron Phosphate and Its Lithium-Ion Batteries

Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica ◽

10.3866/pku.whxb201207043 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (09) ◽

pp. 2084-2090 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

WANG Zhen-Po ◽

◽

LIU Wen ◽

WANG Yue ◽

ZHAO Chun-Song ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lithium Ion Batteries ◽

Lithium Iron Phosphate ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Iron Phosphate ◽

Synthesis And Characterization ◽

Co Doped

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Investigation of Centrifugal Fractionation with Time-Dependent Process Parameters as a New Approach Contributing to the Direct Recycling of Lithium-Ion Battery Components

Metals ◽

10.3390/met10121617 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 1617

Author(s):

Tabea Sinn ◽

Andreas Flegler ◽

Andreas Wolf ◽

Thomas Stübinger ◽

Wolfgang Witt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rotational Speed ◽

Lithium Iron Phosphate ◽

Process Development ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Aqueous Dispersion ◽

Iron Phosphate ◽

Time Dependent ◽

Speed Increase ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Constant Output

Recycling of lithium-ion batteries will become imperative in the future, but comprehensive and sustainable processes for this are still rather lacking. Direct recycling comprising separation of the black mass components as a key step is regarded as the most seminal approach. This paper contributes a novel approach for such separation, that is fractionation in a tubular centrifuge. An aqueous dispersion of cathode materials (lithium iron phosphate, also referred to as LFP, and carbon black) serves as exemplary feed to be fractionated, desirably resulting in a sediment of pure LFP. This paper provides a detailed study of the commonly time-dependent output of the tubular centrifuge and introduces an approach aiming to achieve constant output. Therefore, three different settings are assessed, constantly low, constantly high and an increase in rotational speed over time. Constant settings result in the predictable unsatisfactory time-variant output, whereas rotational speed increase proves to be able to maintain constant centrate properties. With further process development, the concept of fractionation in tubular centrifuges may mature into a promising separation technique for black mass in a direct recycling process chain.

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