Cryo-Mechanical Treatment and Hydrometallurgical Process for Recycling Li-MnO 2 Primary Batteries with the Direct Production of LiMnPO 4 Nanoparticles

Pier Giorgio Schiavi, Flavia Carla dos Santos Martins Padoan, Pietro Altimari and Francesca Pagnanelli
Additional contact information
Pier Giorgio Schiavi: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Flavia Carla dos Santos Martins Padoan: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Pietro Altimari: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Francesca Pagnanelli: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-11

Abstract: In this work, an innovative hydrometallurgical recycling route for the recovery of all the materials composing Li-MnO 2 primary batteries was proposed. End-of-life batteries were mechanically treated in an innovative pilot plant where a cryogenic crushing was performed. The mechanical treatment allowed for the release of the electrodic powder contained in the batteries with the simultaneous recovery of 44 kg of steel and 18 kg of plastics from 100 kg of batteries. Electrodic powder was employed as the raw material for the synthesis of LiMnPO 4 nanoparticles. To obtain the synthesis precursors, selective sequential leaching of Li and Mn was performed. Li was extracted via water washing the electrodic powder and Li 2 CO 3 and a purity of 99% was recovered. The black mass containing Mn oxides was leached using phosphoric acid, which gave a Mn-bearing precursor solution that was directly used for the hydrothermal synthesis of LiMnPO 4 nanoparticles. A preliminary materials balance of the process was presented, indicating that the proposed process should be an easy hydrometallurgical route for the recycling of primary lithium batteries. In addition, the simultaneous production of high-value-added products that could be reintroduced into the battery manufacturing chain could ensure the economic feasibility of the process.

Keywords: Li batteries recycling; LiMnPO 4 nanoparticles; cryo-mechanical treatment; metallic lithium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/4004/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/4004/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:15:p:4004-:d:393983

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().