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Characterization and recycling of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide type spent mobile phone batteries based on mineral processing technology

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Abstract

The unprecedented increase in mobile phone spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in recent times has become a major concern for the global community. The focus of current research is the development of recycling systems for LIBs, but one key area that has not been given enough attention is the use of pre-treatment steps to increase overall recovery. A mechanical process combined with gravity, magnetic separation, and flotation was developed to recover metals and plastics. The results of the enrichment experiments in the coarse fraction showed that plastics with natural hydrophobicity could be obtained by reverse flotation. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid leaching was subjected to the black mass for recovering Li, Co, Ni, and Mn. The dissolution conditions were optimized by changing leaching parameters. The dissolution efficiencies of 96% Co, 94% Ni, 95% Mn, and 98% Li were achieved with 2 M H2SO4 concentration, 60 °C temperature, 2 h leaching time, and 40 g/L H2O2 dosage. In the precipitation step, NaOH was added to the leachate to increase the pH, and Co and Ni were partially separated from Mn at pH 7.7. The proposed flowsheet is basic and highly effective for the complementary recycling of components in Li-ion batteries.

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The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01652-5.

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Acknowledgements

The present study is based on the results of the graduate and undergraduate thesis conducted at Istanbul Technical University. The authors sincerely thank the Mineral Processing Department of Istanbul Technical University for providing laboratory equipment and analysis for this research. We would like to thank Exitcom Recycling Co. for supplying the S-LIB samples. We are grateful to Rantek Co. for their support in crushing battery samples to fine size by cutting mill.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exitcom Recycling Company, Çepni District, Suadiye Bağdat Street, No: 40, Kartepe, 41175, Kocaeli, Türkiye

    İlyas Emir Çuhadar

  2. Mineral Processing Engineering Department, Faculty of Mines, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, 34467, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Fulya Mennik, Nazlım İlkyaz Dinç, Alim Gül & Fırat Burat

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  1. İlyas Emir Çuhadar
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  2. Fulya Mennik
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Contributions

FM, NİD, İEÇ, and FB contributed to the investigation, methodology, and experimental design. FB and AG are involved in supervision, validation, writing-original draft, review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Fırat Burat.

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Çuhadar, İ.E., Mennik, F., Dinç, N.İ. et al. Characterization and recycling of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide type spent mobile phone batteries based on mineral processing technology. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 25, 1746–1759 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01652-5

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