• Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.553-563
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• 2018

In this study, the location conditions and optimal technologies required for creating urban municipalities that can utilize the space in an abandoned mine area, where there is no infrastructure related to recycling wastes and valuable metals, are investigated. The urban mining industry deals with mineral resources through the processing of high value-added industrial by-products and wastes, and it is a useful linkage industry for the development of mineral resources and prevention of mining hazards. Urban mining technologies targeted at the abandoned mine area constitute screening, extraction, and smelting for recycling waste products. By analyzing the technologies available, an industrial network can be developed for recycling waste batteries and catalysts, which are promising raw materials. It is also important to establish an appropriate location for related industries that can generate value-added resources, rather than the resource supply and demand conditions seen in general urban mines. In order to overcome the accessibility and infrastructure limitations, the economic foundation of the abandoned mine area should consider the linkage of raw material supply, key technologies for recycling useful mineral resources that are derived from urban mines, spatial and site conditions, and industrial characteristics.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.81-91
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• 2022

The use of lithium-ion batteries increases significantly with the rapid spread of electronic devices and electric vehicle and thereby an increase in the amount of waste batteries is expected in the near future. Therefore, studies are continuously being conducted to recover various resources of cathode active material (Ni, Co, Mn, Li) from waste battery. In order to recover the cathode active material, black mass is generally recovered from waste battery. The general process of recovering black mass is a waste battery collection - discharge - dismantling - crushing - classification process. This study focus on the crushing/classification process among the processes. Specifically, the particle size distribution of various samples at each crushing/classification step were evaluated, and the particle shape of each particle fraction was analyzed with a microscope and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)-EDS(Energy Dispersive Spectrometer). As a result, among the black mass particle, fine particle less than 74 ㎛ was the mixture of cathode and anode active material which are properly liberated from the current metals. However, coarse particle larger than 100 ㎛ was present in a form in which the current metal and active material were combined. In addition, this study developed a PBM(Population Balance Model) system that can simulate two-species mixture sample with two different crushing properties. Using developed model, the breakage parameters of two species was derived and predictive performance of breakage distribution was verified.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2023

Because the application of lithium has gradually increased for the production of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), more research studies about recycling using solvent extraction (SX) should focus on Li⁺ recovery from the waste solution obtained after the removal of the valuable metals nickel, cobalt and manganese (NCM). The raffinate obtained after the removal of NCM metal contains lithium ions and other impurities such as Na ions. In this study, we optimized a selective SX system using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as the extractant and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) as a modifier in kerosene for the recovery of lithium from a waste solution containing lithium and a high concentration of sodium (Li⁺ = 0.5 ~ 1 wt%, Na⁺ = 3 ~6.5 wt%). The extraction of lithium was tested in different solvent compositions and the most effective extraction occurred in the solution composed of 20% D2EHPA + 20% TBP + and 60% kerosene. In this SX system with added NaOH for saponification, more than 95% lithium was selectively extracted in four extraction steps using an organic to aqueous ratio of 5:1 and an equilibrium pH of 4 ~ 4.5. Additionally, most of the Na⁺ (92% by weight) remained in the raffinate. The extracted lithium is stripped using 8 wt% HCl to yield pure lithium chloride with negligible Na content. The lithium chloride is subsequently treated with high purity ammonium bicarbonate to afford lithium carbonate powder. Finally the lithium carbonate is washed with an adequate amount of water to remove trace amounts of sodium resulting in highly pure lithium carbonate powder (purity > 99.2%).

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2023

The recovery of valuable metals from waste lithium-based secondary batteries is very important in terms of efficiently utilizing earth's limited number of resources. Currently, the cathode material of a LiFePO₄ battery, a type of battery which is widely used in automobiles, contains approximately 5% lithium. After use, the lithium in these batteries can be used again as a raw material for new batteries through lithium recycling. In this study, low-concentration sulfuric acid, a commonly used type of inorganic acid, was used to selectively leach the lithium contained in a waste LiFePO₄ cathode material powder. In addition, in order to compare and analyze the leaching efficiency and separation efficiency of each component, the optimalleaching conditions were derived by applying a two-step leaching process with pulp density being used as a variable during leaching. When leaching with pulp density as a variable, it was confirmed that at a pulp density of 200 g/L, the separation efficiency was approximately 200 times higher than at other pulp densities because the iron and phosphorus components were hardly leached at this pulp density. Accordingly, the pulp density of 200 g/L was used tooptimize the leaching conditions for the selective leaching and recovery of lithium.

• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2024

Globally, the demand for electric vehicles has surged due to greenhouse gas regulations related to climate change, leading to an increase in the production of used batteries as a consequence of the battery life issue. This study aims to selectively leach and recover valuable metal lithium from the cathode material of spent LFP (LiFePO₄) batteries among lithium-ion batteries. Generally, the use of inorganic acids results in the emission of toxic gases or the generation of large quantities of wastewater, causing environmental issues. To address this, research is being conducted to leach lithium using organic acids and other leaching agents. In this study, selective leaching was performed using the organic acid methane sulfonic acid (MSA, CH₃SO₃H). Experiments were conducted to determine the optimal conditions for selectively leaching lithium by varying the MSA concentration, pulp density, and hydrogen peroxide dosage. The results of this study showed that lithium was leached at approximately 100%, while iron and phosphorus components were leached at about 1%, verifying the leaching efficiency and the leaching rates of the main components under different variables.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.223-226
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• 2009

In this study, we investigated the recovery of copper and synthetic fuel from the waste wire by low temperature pyrolysis which can overcome problems of the recent incineration methods. Through thermal decomposition process of waste wire, we achieved the big advantage of getting usable resources as the forms of copper and fuel with a very high value. The TG/DTA and small-scale reaction experiments were carried out to determine an optimum temperature for waste wire pyrolysis. And the pyrolysis was done at 350, 450, and $550^{\circ}C$, respectively, and heating rate of the TG/DTA was $5^{\circ}C/min$ untill $700^{\circ}C$. The result shows that the optimum temperature range for dehydrochlorination of PVC was $280{\sim}350^{\circ}C$, as a lower temperature range than $400{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ of PE and PP. Practically over 95% of copper metal and synthetic fuel, which has the 8027 kcal/kg as a calorific value, were recovered from the waste wire samples.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2018

In this study, zeolite (Z-C2) was synthesized using a fusion/hydrothermal method on coal fly ash (FA) discharged from a thermal power plant in the Ulsan area and then analyzed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Z-C2 was characterized in terms of mineralogical composition and morphological analysis. The XRD results showed that its peaks had the characteristics of Na-A zeolite in the range of $2{\theta}$ of 7.18~34.18. The SEM images confirmed that the Na-A zeolite crystals had a chamfered-edge crystal structure almost identical to that of the commercial zeolite. The adsorption kinetics of Cu, Co, Mn and Zn ions by Z-C2 were described better by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model more than by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The Langmuir model fitted the adsorption isotherm data better than the Freundlich model did. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu, Co, Mn and Zn ions obtained from the Langmuir model were in the following order : Cu (94.7 mg/g) > Co (77.7 mg/g) > Mn (57.6 mg/g) > Zn (51.1 mg/g). These adsorption capacities are regarded as excellent compared to those of commercial zeolite.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.59-69
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• 1995

Distillation oI the dust generated during waste tue pyrolysis was perIomerl to rccover valuable metal sucll as zlnc. lead and iron. Pemcahilily and carnprcssivc tests were pursucd to ahlain the basic dala for cslraclian of zinc from the slntering propcrtp ol stccl making dusts and distilled carhon of waste tires as wcll as wastc pulp sludge mixlure hr~quet were investigated at various sinlcring lempcraturcs. Permeablllly rncieased with increastng amount of waste pulp in specil~cd istilled carhon due tn the fnrmat~ono f porusily in lhe sample TIE co~npress~vsctr ength showed the vanous values wlth different amDunl of dislilled-carhon adrlit~nilsa nd at diIIerenl sinlering tcmpcralures. X-ray diffifraction anvlyscs oI a hnquet rn~rhtre of steelmaking dusts(20Q didilled carhon and 10% waste pulp sblered ;>I SOOT) showcd thal the briquet consisted ot ZnO and Fc,O.,, hut was not found at the hriguet rintered at over 10OO'C. Crude zinc oxide sintered a1 IOOOC contained OZA Zn.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.64-74
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• 2016

Titanium and iron are closely related in nature, although titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Iron in titanium ores must be removed for use as feedstocks in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments and pure $TiCl_4$ for metal titanium. In this study, various beneficiation processes of ilmenite for production of $TiO_2$ have been reviewed and compared. Most of these processes involve a combination of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. These beneficiation processes of ilmenite generate considerable quantities of wastes primarily in the form of iron salt, iron oxide and acidic effluents. Therefore, it is important that recovery of acid value from waste and conversion of iron bearing waste to useful materials for development of new beneficiation processes of ilmenite.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2005

It is well known that PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is a complex mixture of various metals mixed with various types of plastics and ceramics. In this study, high temperature pyre-metallurgical process was investigated to extract valuable metallic components from the PCB scrap. For this purpose, PCB scrap was shredded and oxidized to remove plastic materials, and then, quantitative analyses were made. After the oxidation of the PCB scrap, $30.6wt\%SiO_2,\;19.3wt\%Al_2O_3\;and\;14wt{\%}CaO$ were analyzed as major oxides, and thereafter, a typical composition of $32wt\%SiO_2-20wt\%Al_2O_3-38wt{\%}CaO-10wt\%MgO$ was chosen as a basic slag system for the separation of metallic components. Moreover a size effect of crushed PCB scrap was also investigated. During experiments a high frequency induction furnace was used to melt and separate metallic components. As a result, it was found that the size of oxidized PCB scrap was needed to be less 0.9 m to make a homogeneous liquid slag and to recycle metallic components over $95\%$.