| Lithium ion batteries are one of the most commonly used batteries. A large amount of these have been used over the past 25 years and the use is expected to rise more due to their use in automotive batteries. Lithium ion batteries cannot be disposed into landfill due to safety reasons and cost. Thus, over the last years, there has been a lot of effort to find ways to recycle lithium ion batteries. A lot of valuable materials are present in a lithium ion battery making their recycling favorable. Many attempts, including pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods, have been researched and some of them are already used by the industry. However, further improvements are needed to the already existing processes, to win more valuable materials, use less energy and be more environmentally benign. The goal of this thesis is to find a low-temperature, low-energy method of recovering lithium from the electrolyte and to develop pathways for complete recycling of the battery. The research consists of the following parts: Pure LiPF6 powder, which is the electrolyte material, was characterized using x- ray diffraction analysis and DSC/TGA analysis. The LiPF6 powder was titrated using acid (HCl, HNO3, H2SO4), bases (NH4 OH) and distilled water. It was concluded that distilled water was the best solvent to selectively leach lithium from lithium-ion batteries. Leaching conditions were optimized including time, temperature, solid/liquid ratio and stirring velocity. All the samples were tested using ICP for chemical composition. Because leaching could be performed at room temperature, leaching was conducted in a flotation machine that was able to separate plastics by creating bubbles with no excess reagents use. The solution that contained lithium had to be concentrated more in order for lithium to be able to precipitate and it was shown that the solution could be concentrated by using the same solution over and over again. The next set of experiments was composed of battery shredding, steel separation by hand magnet, leaching with distilled water and sizing using wet sieving. Every fraction was sent to rare-earth rolls separation and eddy current separation. A size distribution analysis was conducted and the fractions were analyzed using ICP. |
