Cathodes of spent Li-ion batteries:Dissolution with phosphoric acid and recovery of lithium and cobalt from leach liquors

MARÍA DEL C. RUIZ; ELIANA G. PINNA; MARIO H. RODRIGUEZ; MANUEL W. OJEDA

HYDROMETALLURGY (AMSTERDAM)

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 67 p. 66 - 71

0304-386X

 This paper presents the study of an innovative process: the reductive dissolution of mixed lithium cobalt oxide contained in thecathodes of spent Li-i on batteries with phosphoric acid. The studied parameters were: reaction time ,temperature, stirringspeed, solid-liquid ratio and concentrations of the leaching agent (H3PO4) and the reducing agent (H2O2). Reactants and productswerecharacterized by atomic absorption spectroscopy(AAS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that the reducing dissolution process with phosphoric acid is an efficient way for the extraction of lithium and cobalt, achieving dissolution values close to100%. In addition, a recovery of 88% of Li+ as Li3PO4 and 99% of Co+2 as CoC2O4, with purities of 98.3% and 97.8% was found respectively.