The Recovery of Valuable Metals from Spent Battery Leach Solutions by Synergistic Solvent Extraction
The growth of energy demand for portable equipment has greatly stimulated the production and consumption of batteries. Recycling of spent batteries can reduce the amount of hazardous wastes going to landfill and save world metal resources. A process for the recovery of valuable metals including lithium, cobalt and nickel from spent Li-ion batteries has been developed using synergistic solvent extraction.
In the first solvent extraction circuit, copper, iron and aluminium were separated from lithium, cobalt and nickel by a synergistic solvent extraction system. In the second solvent extraction circuit, cobalt and nickel were separated from lithium by another synergistic solvent extraction system. The nickel can be separated from cobalt by ion exchange. The advantage of this process is that pure lithium, cobalt and nickel can be obtained.