A clean and sustainable process to recover valuable materials from waste lithium-cobaltate battery

With the continuous expansion of lithium-ion battery market, the demand for LiCoO₂ remains high and continues to increase annually. However, improper disposal of waste LiCoO₂ batteries causes significant pollution to the environment and waste of resources. This study proposes a novel vacuum carbothermal reduction-vacuum distillation (VCR-VD) method to recover cobalt and lithium oxide from the mixed electrode material of waste batteries. The effects of holding time on the weight loss rate of the raw material, and the effects of holding temperature and carbon content on the purity and direct yield of Co, were investigated to determine the optimal process and parameters. Under the conditions of a reduction temperature of 1500 K, holding time of 3 h, and carbon content of 26.89 wt.% in the raw material, Co with a purity of 95.55 wt.% and a direct yield of 92.4 % was obtained. Simultaneously, Li₂O with a purity of 98.94 wt.% and a direct yield of 95 % was recovered. This chemical reagent-free process achieves full recovery of waste LiCoO₂ batteries within a short processing time. The experimental results provide a new idea and theoretical support for the industrial-scale recovery of waste lithium-ion batteries.