Hydrometallurgical recovery of spent cobalt-based lithium-ion battery cathodes using ethanol as the reducing agent

A reducing agent can reduce Co³⁺ to Co²⁺ in LiCoO₂, thus increasing the leaching efficiency and extraction rate of Co-based cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, ethanol was employed as the reducing agent to leach LiCoO₂ obtained from LIBs in a sulfuric acid solution. The effects of operating temperatures (50-90 °C), dosage of ethanol (0-20 vol%), concentration of sulfuric acid (2-6 mol/L), and solid/liquid ratio (10-40  g/L) on the leaching efficiency of LiCoO₂ were investigated. By adding 5 vol% ethanol in a 6 mol/L sulfuric acid solution at 90 °C, the extraction efficiency of Co and Li are both over 99%, meaning that ethanol can reduce Co³⁺ to Co²⁺ while the ethanol was oxidized to acetic acid. The dissolution of LiCoO₂ obeys the residue layer diffusion control model. Although ethanol is a promising reducing agent, future efforts should pay to the management of the secondary wastewater. Overall, the ethanol can be used as a reducing agent to assist the leaching of cathode materials from spent LIBs.