A Critical Review and Analysis on the Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted significant attention in recent years due to the increasing demand for corresponding critical metals/materials and growing pressure on the environmental impact of solid waste disposal. A range of investigations have been carried out for recycling spent LIBs to obtain either battery materials or individual compounds. For the effective recovery of materials to be enhanced, physical pretreatment is usually applied to obtain different streams of waste materials ensuring efficient separation for further processing. Subsequently, a metallurgical process is used to extract metals or separate impurities from a specific waste stream so that the recycled materials or compounds can be further prepared by incorporating principles of materials engineering. In this review, the current status of spent LIB recycling is summarized in light of the whole recycling process, especially focusing on the hydrometallurgy. In addition to understanding different hydrometallurgical technologies including acidic leaching, alkaline leaching, chemical precipitation, and solvent extraction, the existing challenges for process optimization during the recycling are critically analyzed. Moreover, the energy consumption of different processes is evaluated and discussed. It is expected that this research could provide a guideline for improving spent LIB recycling, and this topic can be further stimulated for industrial realization.

Ambient‐Pressure Relithiation of Degraded LixNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (0 < x < 1) via Eutectic Solutions for Direct Regeneration of Lithium‐Ion Battery Cathodes

“…2019, 9,1900454 change back to higher and lower values, respectively, suggesting the recovery of the crystal structure. The Li/Ni mixing in the degraded material was calculated to be lower (1.35%) than the pristine material (3.39%).…”

“…[3] In this context, recycling and re-use of end-of-life LIBs (after 5-10 years of operation) to reclaim lithium (Li) and transition metal (TM) resources (e.g., Co, Ni), as well as eliminating pollution from disposal of waste batteries, has become an urgent task. [9,10] The state-of-the-art approaches to recycle cathode materials include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and direct recycling. [9,10] The state-of-the-art approaches to recycle cathode materials include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and direct recycling.…”

“…The oxidation states of Co are similar on both the surface and in the bulk, as well as in degraded and regenerated samples, which is evidenced from similar peak positions and intensities of Co L-edge spectra in all the samples (Figure 5f). 2019, 9,1900454 degraded sample, which is attributed to the charge compensation due to re-dosed Li after regeneration. Energy Mater.…”

“…2019, 9,1900454 and applied to regenerate other LIB cathode materials such as LiMn 2 O 4 , LiFePO 4 as well as sodium-ion battery cathodes (e.g., Na(Ni 0.60 Co 0.05 Mn 0.35 )O 2 ), though the exact details of the treatment may vary depending on the cathode structures and chemistries. By combining such a low-temperature molten-salt relithiation process with a short-time thermal annealing step, NCM523 cathode particles with significant capacity degradation and Li loss can be successfully regenerated to achieve their original chemical composition and crystal structures.…”

Burgeoning Prospects of Spent Lithium‐Ion Batteries in Multifarious Applications

“…[1][2][3][4] The rising demand for EV and the low accessibility to raw materials are threatening the LIBs production and urge the instant necessity of recycling to employ the valuable materials. Specifically, there is an increasing trend of using lithiumion batteries (LIBs) as electrochemical power sources from mobile phones to electric vehicles (EV) at an alarming rate, which leads to vast amount of waste after the end of lifetime.…”