Separation and recovery of cathode materials from spent Li-ion batteries using flotation

ABSTRACT

The separation and recovery of cathode materials and anode materials using conventional flotation are not satisfactory. In the present research, hierarchical flotation and shearing flocculation enhanced flotation are employed and the surface properties and particle size of electrode materials during the pre-treatment and their effects on flotation performance are investigated. Results show that in hierarchical flotation, the recovery and grade of the cathode materials for coarse particles could reach 97.64% and 97.67%, respectively. However, the separation performance of fine particles is far behind. This is due to the fact that the binder is removed after thermal treatment, and more importantly, the particles of the cathode materials grow up and the size of the graphite keeps almost unchanged. By using shearing flocculation enhanced flotation, for both coarse and fine particles, the recovery and grade of cathode materials are 95.64% and 94.51%, respectively. Graphite also achieved the highest recovery simultaneously.

KEYWORDS:

• Flotation
• thermal treatment
• recovery
• spent lithium-ion battery
• separation

Acknowledgements

Support was provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022YQHH03) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51604281).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51604281]; Key Research and Development Project of Jiangxi Province [20203BBFL63059]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2022YQHH03]; China Yibin City 2022 Introduction of High-level Talents Project [2022YG04].

Notes on contributors

Ping Feng

Ping Feng is a professor and works at the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing). Her main research interests are recycling of spent lithium-ion battery and utilization of biomass energy.

Chenyu Zhang

Chenyu Zhang is a Ph.D candidate majoring in mineral processing technology at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), whose research interests is mainly recycling of spent lithium-ion battery.

Xueshuai Zhu

Xueshuai Zhu is a professor and currently works at the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing). His main research interests are recycling of spent lithium-ion battery, and coal beneficiation and clean utilization.

Xiaojuan Yang

Xiaojuan Yang is a Master student majoring in mineral processing technology at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), whose research interests is mainly recycling of spent lithium-ion battery.

Gaoming Zhou

Gaoming Zhou is a research director in Yibin Tianyuan Sci-tech and Design Company Limited, and his main research direction is the processing and preparation of lithium battery materials.

Lu He

Lu He is a lecturer and works at the College of Forestry of Jiangxi Agricultural University. Her main research interests are thermochemical conversion and utilization of biomass materials.