Use of chlorination to recover lithium from the cathode of spent lithium-ion batteries

ORIANA BARRIOS TORRES; PABLO OROSCO; YARIVITH GONZÁLEZ PEÑA; LUCÍA BARBOSA

Antofagasta

Workshop; 7 th International Workshop on Lithium, Industrial Minerals and Energy,; 2020

Universidad de Antofagasta

We studied the recovery of lithium from the cathode of spent lithium-ion batteries using a pyrometallurgical process of chlorination with chlorine gas [1]. The powder composed by the mixed oxides (MO) extrated from the cathode present in discarded LiBs was used as the solid reactant . Table 1 exhibits the results of the chemical analysis performed on the mixed oxides by atomic absorption spectrometry. The experimental chlorination tests were carried out in a thermogravimetric system designed to work in corrosive and non-corrosive atmospheres [2]. Chlorination tests were carried out at 400 °C for periods of time between 15 and 90 min by heating approximately 0.5 g of MO under Cl2/N2 flow. The sample chlorinated was subsequently washed and filtered to separate the soluble from the insoluble compounds. The soluble compound were dried and the dried powder was identified as leached product (LP) [3,4]. The LP sample was characterized bye X-ray diffraction (XRD).The XRD pattern of LP shown in Figure 1 displays the characteristic peaks of LiCl. This result indicates the partial chlorination of MO is produced according to equation (1). Table 2 shows the chemical composition of the products generated during the chlorination of MO at 400 °C for 90 min. The experimental results showed that the pyrometallurgical process of chlorination is an efficient method to recover lithium in the form of LiCl. The results indicated that LiCl was selectively extracted at 400 ºC.