I-Corps: Recovery of lithium and related materials from spent lithium batteries and lithium battery industry electrode waste

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发锂电池回收工艺，以回收基本金属。 随着污染减少和电动汽车等电动技术的采用，预计电池需求将沿着电池废弃物的增加。建议的工艺可能有助于确保向当地锂电池市场提供可靠的必要资源，以及安全有效地处理锂电池废物。此外，该方法可以在金属回收过程中节省成本，并有助于补充用于锂基储能技术制造的金属的本地供应。 拟议的高效电池废物处理方法可能有助于防止锂电池废物管理不当，并促进锂电池市场的可持续性。I-Corps项目基于开发一种回收工艺，用于从与锂电池相关的废物中回收金属基材料。所提出的工艺应用基于氢碘酸的溶液，用于通过从锂电池阴极材料中浸出关键金属来进行选择性回收。 在常规的湿法冶金锂电池回收操作中，使用升高的温度来改善工艺动力学，并将还原剂添加到浸出介质中以改善阴极金属回收率。然而，这导致与实现高温的能量需求和购买还原剂相关的成本。此外，这些系统导致产生有毒气体化合物，例如氯、氮氧化物和硫氧化物。该提议的工艺已被证明可以在接近环境温度的条件下回收金属，平均速度快9倍，不使用还原剂，并且不会产生有毒气体。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a lithium battery recycling process to recover essential metals. With the drive towards less pollution and the adoption of electric technologies such as electric vehicles, battery demand is predicted to increase along with battery waste. The proposed process may help to ensure the reliable supply of essential resources to the local lithium battery market as well as the safe and effective treatment of lithium battery waste. In addition, the process may allow for cost savings during the metal recovery process and aid in supplementing the local supply of metals for lithium-based energy storage technology manufacture. The proposed efficient battery waste process may serve to prevent improper lithium battery waste management and foster sustainability within the lithium battery market.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a recycling process for the recovery of metal-based materials from waste associated with lithium batteries. The proposed process applies a hydroiodic acid-based solution for the selective recovery via leaching of critical metals from lithium battery cathode material. In conventional hydrometallurgical lithium battery recycling operations, elevated temperatures are used to improve process kinetics and a reducing agent is added to the leaching media to improve cathode metal recoveries. However, this results in costs associated with energy requirements to achieve high temperatures and the purchase of reducing agents. In addition, these systems result in the production of toxic gaseous compounds such as chlorine, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. The proposed process has been shown to recover metals, on average, nine times faster, at temperatures close to ambient in the absence of a reducing agent, and without toxic gas production.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.