‘Green’ boost for lithium recovery

Chinese researchers are claiming a recovery rate of 99.99% from lithium recycled from spent lithium-ion batteries using a speedy process which eliminates the use of harsh chemicals.

Their work is reported in the journal of the German Chemical Society, with the publication listing 10 academics from Central South University, Changsha and other institutions. They are also claiming rates of 96.86% for nickel, 92.35% for cobalt and 90.59 % for manganese.

The process, called ‘neutral leaching’, needs just 15 minutes in laboratory tests to separate out the desired battery materials. The new technology and its speed are seen as a big improvement on traditional acid or/and ammonia leaching techniques.  

Harmless

‘Neutral leaching has been pioneeringly proposed to achieve a low-cost and harmless hydrometallurgical process,’ their report says. ‘It is sturdily confirmed that the intractable problem, the effective extraction is available only under the aggressive acid/alkali-ion conditions, is well-solved within a mild leaching atmosphere.

‘This green and efficient strategy in neutral solution environment opens a new pathway to realise the large-scale pollution-free recycling of spent batteries.’