Optimal Diafiltration Membrane Cascades Enable Green Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries
Optimal Diafiltration Membrane Cascades Enable Green Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries
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DOI：
10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c02862
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发表时间：
2022-09
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Noah P. Wamble;Elvis A. Eugene;W. Phillip;A. Dowling
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文献类型：
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作者：
Noah P. Wamble;Elvis A. Eugene;W. Phillip;A. Dowling
迫切需要新的工艺来回收废旧锂离子电池（lib）中的关键材料（如钴、锂、镍和锰）。这些分离对于满足日益增长的全球需求和缓解迫在眉睫的电子垃圾危机至关重要。目前，为了从废lib中回收钴和锂，需要在复杂的浸出和萃取过程中使用高温和有机溶剂分离Co2+和Li+。与使用昂贵的设计配体或有害的有机溶剂相比，这项工作表明，连续膜级联是一种有前途的水基替代方案，可以回收这些关键材料并促进它们的再利用。开发了一个上层结构优化模型，该模型设计了滤级联，以最大限度地提高材料回收率和纯度，作为膜材料性能和进料规格的函数。这种方法通过快速预测定制级联设计中锂和钴的回收率和纯度之间的帕累托最优权衡，可以对候选膜材料进行比较。例如，该模型预测，当在优化的两级级联配置中部署时，选择性为32的纳滤膜可以分别以93%和99.5%的纯度回收95%的Li+和99%的Co2+。在分析了1000多个帕累托最优设计的基础上，提出了6种采用分级过滤级联执行二元分离的设计启发式方法。此外，通过在优化滤滤过程的背景下评估膜材料，本工作量化了材料改进的好处，并表明基于膜的LIB回收的最大研究机会是在设备和系统规模上。更广泛地说，优化模型代表了一个强大的框架，用于识别在集成过程系统中部署新兴材料的最有效方法。这种变革能力广泛适用于支持可持续全球发展所需的许多分离。
Novel processes are urgently needed to recycle critical materials (e.g., cobalt, lithium, nickel, and manganese) from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). These separations are vital both to meet growing global demand and to mitigate a looming e-waste crisis. Currently, to recover cobalt and lithium from spent LIBs, high temperatures and organic solvents are used to separate Co2+and Li+in complex leaching and extraction processes. In contrast to using expensive designer ligands or harmful organic solvents, this work reveals that continuous membrane cascades are a promising aqueous-based alternative to recover these critical materials and facilitate their reuse. A superstructure optimization model that designs diafiltration cascades to maximize material recovery and purity as a function of membrane material performance and feed specifications is developed. This approach enables the comparison of candidate membrane materials by rapidly predicting the Pareto optimal trade-offs between the recovery and purity of lithium and cobalt for bespoke cascade designs. For example, the model predicts that, when deployed in an optimized two-stage cascade configuration, a nanofiltration membrane with a modest selectivity of 32 can be used to recover 95% Li+and 99% Co2+at 93 and 99.5 wt % purity, respectively. On the basis of analysis of over 1000 Pareto optimal designs, six design heuristics for executing binary separations using staged diafiltration cascades are proposed. Moreover, by evaluating membrane materials in the context of optimized diafiltration processes, this work quantifies the benefits of materials improvements and shows that the greatest research opportunities for membrane-based LIB recycling are at the device and systems scales. More broadly, the optimization models represent a robust framework for identifying the most effective way to deploy emerging materials in integrated process systems. This transformative capability is widely applicable to many of the separations needed to support sustainable global development.