Selective Recovery of Battery-Grade Li₂CO₃ from Spent NCM Cathode Materials Using a One-Step Method of CO₂...

The recovery of spent lithium-ion batteries by traditional acid leaching is limited by serious pollution, complicated technology, and the low purity of Li₂CO₃. To address the problems of the traditional acid leaching process and increasing demand for decarbonization, a technique for the selective carbonation leaching of Li and the recovery of battery-grade Li₂CO₃ by a simple concentration precipitation process without acids or bases was developed. The coupling of CO₂ and reducing agents could effectively promote the precipitation of MCO₃ (M=Ni/Co/Mn) and the selective leaching of Li by decreasing the reducing capability needed for transition metals and decreasing the pH of the solution. The optimal selective leaching process of Li was obtained under 1 MPa CO₂ with 20 g/L Na₂S₂O₃ at an L/S ratio of 30 mL/g for 1.5 h. FT-IR, XRD, ICP-MS and other methods were used to reveal the multiphase interfacial reaction mechanism of the carbonation reduction of layered cathode materials, which indicated that the reducing agent Na₂S₂O₃ could promote lattice distortion of the cathode materials and effective separation of Li. In summary, a green and economical method for the selective recovery of battery-grade Li₂CO₃ using a one-step method of CO₂ carbonation recovery in a near-neutral environment was proposed.