Combined pyro-hydrometallurgical technology for recovering valuable metal elements from spent lithium-ion batteries: a review of recent developments

Abstract

A combined pyro-metallurgical process with green chemistry principles for the recycling of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries is reviewed.

Towards greener batteries: sustainable components and materials for next-generation batteries

“…The projected EV market requires to estimate of the circular economy design of end-of-life products and recovery of the materials for secondary battery use. 176 Spent LIBs also contain large amounts of different metals such as Li, Co, Mn, Ni, Cu, Al, and Fe in higher concentrations than in the respective ores. Hence, recycling and recovery of spent LIB is important both for critical metal supply and environmental protection.…”

“…178 Mostly the recycling of LIBs uses pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy methods. 176 From this approach, the value of the product has a higher cost and a lower fraction of recovery. With the inevitable increase in EVs over the forthcoming years, materials should be more scalable, reusable, and suitable recycling methods are essential.…”

A systematic review of efficient recycling for the cathode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries: process intensification technologies beyond traditional methods

“…In fact, the most widely applied technology in the recovery of LIBs is the pyro-hydrometallurgy combined method. From the perspective of the combined process, He et al 37 summarized in detail the pretreatment and subsequent steps of separation and extraction of the pyro-hydrometallurgy combined method and presented the practical application of this method, putting forward the development direction and challenges of the combined process in the recovery of spent LIBs. Different from traditional recovery technologies, the concept of direct recovery has also attracted significant attention from scholars worldwide.…”

A green strategy for the selective recovery of lithium and the synthesis of CoFe2O4 catalyst for CO oxidation from spent lithium-ion batteries

“…Currently, the most commonly used methods for recovering spent LIBs include pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes and their combination. 5–8 The combined process offers a lower reduction temperature (300–800 °C) compared to traditional pyrometallurgical methods, along with improved metal selectivity and cost-effectiveness over hydrometallurgical approaches, making it a promising recycling technology. Initially, the metal elements are reduced and extracted into solution, followed by separation and purification through solvent extraction, chemical precipitation, and other methods.…”