Process intensification in the recycling of lithium-ion batteries

Description

Lithium-ion batteries, LIB, build the basis of electro-mobility. As a result the demand on batteries is increasing and thisposes drastic challenges to the global community.On the one hand, the current production capacity of cobalt, nickel and lithium is not sufficient to meet the growing global demand. On the other hand, used lithium-ion batteries pose a serious threat to the environment in the event of landfill. Both aspects lead to the need to push the recycling of these batteries. In the "Black Material", the active materials from the anode and cathode are available at the end of the mechanical reprocessing of spent LIB. This contains the valuable materials Co, Li, Ni and Mn, which are transferred to the aqueous phase via a leaching process. In our own research, the separation of manganese using the ion exchanger Di/2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was demonstrated in a DN 50 Disc & Doughnut column. Extraction yields of up to 97% and selectivities above 10 were obtained. However, these results are overshadowed by an increased solvent requirement resulting from the use of settlers at the top of the column phase separation. In addition, dynamic operation of the column is very limited by the complex hydrodynamics. In the present work, the use of a hollow fiber module for reactive extraction will now be considered. The hollow fiber module is characterized by a compact design of 300 x 80 x 80 mm. The specific surface for mass transfer between organic and aqueous phase is comparable to the Disc & Doughnut column. The phase interface is stabilized by a thin supported liquid membrane. Thus, on the one hand a high specific surface can be realized. On the other hand, arbitrary phase ratios can be set.

Period	23 Feb 2023
Event title	Annual Meeting of the DECHEMA Extraction and Mixing Processes Groups
Event type	Conference
Location	GermanyShow on map