Recycling of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Battery of Electric Vehicles

This study puts the emphasis on developing and optimizing efficient hydrometallurgical processes to recycle a lithium-ion battery of an electric vehicle utilizing systematic experimental and theoretical approaches based on design of experiment methodology. Two leachants, i.e., HCl and H₂SO₄ + H₂O₂ were utilized and on the basis of fractional factorial design for the metal leaching efficiency, the most effective leachant was selected as H₂SO₄ + H₂O₂. In this case, 1.5 M H₂SO₄ with 1.0 wt% H₂O₂ at a liquid-to-solid ratio of 20 mL g⁻¹ and temperature of 50 °C for 60 min resulted in the recovery of 100% lithium, 98.4% cobalt, 98.6% nickel, and 98.6% manganese. Moreover, a process mechanism of H₂SO₄ + H₂O₂ leaching of all four metals was proposed. Finally, the Co, Ni, and Mn co-precipitate and Li₂CO₃ precipitate were combined to regenerate a new cathode active material.