Nickel-cadmium batteries: effect of electrode phase composition on acid leaching process

At the end of their life, Ni-Cd batteries cause a number of environmental problems because of the heavy metals they contain. Because of this, recycling of Ni-Cd batteries has been carried out by dedicated companies using, normally, pyrometallurgical technologies. As an alternative, hydrometallurgical processes have been developed based on leaching operations using several types of leachants. The effect of factors like temperature, acid concentration, reaction time, stirring speed and grinding of material on the leaching yields of metals contained in anodic and cathodic materials (nickel, cadmium and cobalt) using sulphuric acid, is herein explained based on the structural composition of the electrode materials. The nickel, cobalt and cadmium hydroxide phases, even with a small reaction time (less than 15 minutes) and low temperature (50 degrees C) and acid concentration (1.1 M H2SO4), were efficiently leached. However, leaching of the nickel metallic phase was more difficult, requiring higher values of temperature, acid concentration and reaction time (e.g. 85 degrees C, 1.1 M H2SO4 and 5 h, respectively) in order to obtain a good leaching efficiency for anodic and cathodic materials (70% and 93% respectively). The stirring speed was not significant, whereas the grinding of electrode materials seems to promote the compaction of particles, which appears to be critical in the leaching of Ni degrees. These results allowed the identification and understanding of the relationship between the structural composition of electrode materials and the most important factors that affect the H2SO4 leaching of spent Ni-Cd battery electrodes, in order to obtain better metal-recovery efficiency.