• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.30-35
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• 2008

Mixed acidophilic bacteria were approached for leaching of cobalt and lithium from wastes of lithium ion battery industries. The growth substrates for the mixed mesophilic bacteria are elemental sulfur and ferrous ion. Bioleaching of the metal was due to the protonic action of sulfate ion on the metals present in the waste. It was investigated that bioleaching of cobalt was faster than lithium. Bacterial action could leach out about 80 % of cobalt and 20 % of lithium from the solid wastes within 12 days of the experimental period. Higher solid/liquid ratio was found to be detrimental for bacterial growth due to the toxic nature of the metals. At high elemental sulfur concentration, the sulfur powder was observed to be in undissolved form and hence the leaching rate also decreased with increase of sulfur amount.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.245-256
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• 2004

The extraction of three kinds of amido podands, N,N,N'N'-tetrabutyl-3-oxa-pentanedi- amide (TBDGA), N,N,N'N'-tetra-isobutyl-3-oxa-pentanediamide(TiBDGA) and N,N,N'N'-tetra- butyl-3,6-dioxa-oct-anediam- ide(TBDOODA) on U(VI),Pu(IV), Am(III), Eu(III) and other metal ions is studied in nitric acid solutions. 40%octanol-kerosene is chosen as diluents to eliminate third phase and emulsion. TBDGA and TiBDGA show extraction selectivity to An(III) and Ln(III) much higher than to U(VI) and Pu(IV). Fe, Ru and Mo is poorly extracted by the three kinds of amid podands in 2~3mol/L $HNO_3$ solutions. Aiming to eliminate interface crude when using simulated HLLW solution in the system of 0.2mol/L TBDGA/Octanol＋kerosene, acetohydroxyamic acid was adapted. Distribution ratio of zirconium was decreased when adding acetohydroxyamic acid in aqueous solution, and interface crude disappeared as mixing extractant with HLLW. The counter-current extraction test is carried out in a set of miniature mixer-settler, with 0.2mol/L TBDGA/ 40% octanol-kerosene as extractant to separate U(VI), Pu(IV), Am(III) and Eu(III) from simulated high level liquid waste(HLLW) solution. In battery A, lanthanides and actinides are coextracted into organic phase with the recovery of 99.98% for U(Ⅵ), >99.99% for Pu(IV), and >99.99% for Am(III) and Eu(III) respectively. In battery R1, 99.99% U, 86.2% Pu and a part of Am or Eu are stripped into aqueous phase by 0.2mol/L acetohydroxyamic acid (AHA) in 0.01mol/L $HNO_3$ solution. In battery $R_2$, Am, Eu and remained Pu are completely back-extracted by 0.2mol/L AHA. This separation process contains no salt reagent, and it is not necessary to dilute HLLW feed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.473-477
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• 2022

In this study, candidate technologies for lithium recovery from the process waste liquid generated in the waste battery recycling process were reviewed, and technologies applicable to the process from the commercialization point of view were reviewed from a qualitative point of view. The evaporation method is difficult to apply because it requires a large-scale land and shows a low recovery rate due to the loss of Li during the concentration process. In the case of precipitation, a commercially available technology shows a high recovery rate due to the high Li/Na selectivity of phosphoric acid, but there are disadvantages in that the process is complicated due to the use of expensive phosphoric acid, requiring a recovery step, and continuous operation is impossible because solids are handled in the Li concentration process. In the case of solvent extraction, if we find an inexpensive extractant with high Li/Na selectivity, continuous operation is possible with the method used in extraction of other metals in the previous step, and when Li is concentrated, continuous operation is possible because it is in a liquid state. If it shows a similar recovery rate compared to precipitation technology, commercialization will be the most likely.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.63-69
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• 2021

Supply deficit of lead commodities and environmental pollution can be simultaneously resolved through the recovery and recycling of waste lead. The recent recovery of lead through recycling of the lead battery waste is a positive development. To maximize the effect of lead recovery and recycling in the future, the updated status of the lead material flow should be recognized. However, such an analysis at the preliminary stages may be cumbersome owing to the complexity and diversity of emission sources and material streams. At this stage, a preliminary screening by domestic lead flow using public information should be feasible. Therefore, in this study, using the data from the UN Comtrade and domestic PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) databases, the amounts of lead import, emission, and transfer were identified and cross-checked with the domestic lead flow described in the National Material Flow Analysis database. The lead flow for major categories such as waste lead-acid batteries showed a rough consistency between the databases.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.326-332
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• 2018

Korea faces major changes in energy policy, which include eco-friendly and zero-nuclear power. On the other hand, there are very few policies for the waste-management of mid- to large-sized lithium-ion batteries, such as electric car batteries and energy storage systems, which are expected to increase explosively due to such energy policy changes. Therefore, this study estimated the amount of mid- to large-sized lithium ion batteries waste and performed economics analysis of a middle and large sized secondary battery recycling project. Based on the results, a policy alternative for the revitalization of the related lithium-ion battery recycling industry is suggested. As a result, the B / C ratio of a domestic mid - to large - sized lithium ion battery recycling project is 1.06, in which the benefit is higher than the cost, so the business is economic feasible. Although the recycling project's economic efficiency is high, the recycling industry has not been activated in Korea because the domestic demand for rechargeable batteries recycling is very low. To solve this problem, this study proposes a plan to activate the industry by adding lithium secondary batteries to the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) items.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2024

The demand for electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries is continuously increasing. Recovery of valuable metals from waste lithium-ion batteries will be necessary in the future. This research investigated the effect of reaction temperature on the lithium recovery ratio from hydrogen reduction followed by water leaching from lithium-ion battery NCM-based cathode materials. As the reaction temperature increased, the weight loss ratio observed after initiation increased rapidly owing to hydrogen reduction of NiO and CoO; at the same time, the H₂O amount generated increased. Above 602 ℃, the anode materials Ni and Co were reduced and existed in the metallic phases. As the hydrogen reduction temperature was increased, the Li recovery ratio also increased; at 704 ℃ and above, the Li recovery ratio reached a maximum of approximately 92%. Therefore, it is expected that Li can be selectively recovered by hydrogen reduction as a waste lithium-ion battery pretreatment, and the residue can be reprocessed to efficiently separate and recover valuable metals.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.61-67
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• 2018

As emerging the new electric devices, the commercial lithium ion batteries have faced with various challenges. In this regard, many efforts to solve challenges have been tried. In order to solve the above problems in terms of development of a new secondary battery, we successfully demonstrated the two electrocatalysts, such as MCWB and PPY hydrogel, PPY hydrogel and MCWB showed typical H3-type BET isotherm, indicating that micro- and mesopores existed. Especially, in terms of voltage efficiency at the first cycle, PPY hydrogel was higher than that of MCWB, but lower than that of PtC. More interestingly, the PPY hygrogel based seawater battery exhibited charge-discharge reversibility during 20 cycles, and the voltage efficiencies ranged from 70.32 % to 77.35 % in cyclic performance test.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

For the past few decades, as part of efforts to protect the environment where fossil fuels, which have been a key energy resource for mankind, are becoming increasingly depleted and pollution due to industrial development, ecofriendly secondary batteries, hydrogen generating energy devices, energy storage systems, and many other new energy technologies are being developed. Among them, the lithium-ion battery (LIB) is considered to be a next-generation energy device suitable for application as a large-capacity battery and capable of industrial application due to its high energy density and long lifespan. However, considering the growing battery market such as eco-friendly electric vehicles and drones, it is expected that a large amount of battery waste will spill out from some point due to the end of life. In order to prepare for this situation, development of a process for recovering lithium and various valuable metals from waste batteries is required, and at the same time, a plan to recycle them is socially required. In this study, we introduce a nanoscale pattern transfer printing (NTP) process of Li2CO3, a representative anode material for lithium ion batteries, one of the strategic materials for recycling waste batteries. First, Li2CO3 powder was formed by pressing in a vacuum, and a 3-inch sputter target for very pure Li2CO3 thin film deposition was successfully produced through high-temperature sintering. The target was mounted on a sputtering device, and a well-ordered Li2CO3 line pattern with a width of 250 nm was successfully obtained on the Si substrate using the NTP process. In addition, based on the nTP method, the periodic Li2CO3 line patterns were formed on the surfaces of metal, glass, flexible polymer substrates, and even curved goggles. These results are expected to be applied to the thin films of various functional materials used in battery devices in the future, and is also expected to be particularly helpful in improving the performance of lithium-ion battery devices on various substrates.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 2022

As environmental pollution becomes more serious, the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is rapidly increasing worldwide. Accordingly, the amount of waste batteries is also increasing, and a technology for recycling and reusing them is required. In order to reuse a used battery, it is necessary to non-destructively diagnose the deterioration condition of the battery. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the diagnosis of degradation for parallel-connected lithium-ion battery cells through non-constructive electrochemical approach. As the number of parallel-connected cells increased, in addition to linear degradation, abrupt step-like degradation occurred, which is attributed to the predominant degradation of specific cells. In addition, it is confirmed that deteriorated cells among multiple cells can be distinguished through a simple measurement of open circuit voltage (OCV).

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2020

In this paper, the recycling of waste Ni-MH battery by-products for electric vehicle is studied. Although rare earths elements still exist in waste Ni-MH battery by-products, they are not valuable as materials in the form of by-products (such as an insoluble substance). This study investigates the recovering of rare earth oxide for solvent extraction A/O ratio, substitution reaction, and reaction temperature, and scrubbing of the rare earth elements for high purity separation. The by-product (in the form of rare earth elements insoluble powder) is converted into hydroxide form using 30% sodium hydroxide solution. The remaining impurities are purified using the difference in solubility of oxalic acid. Subsequently, Yttrium is isolated by means of D2EHPA (Di-[2-ethylhexyl] phosphoric acid). After cerium is separated using potassium permanganate, lanthanum and neodymium are separated using PC88A (2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester) and it is calcinated at a temperature of 800 ℃. As a result of the physical and chemical measurement of the calcined lanthanum and neodymium powder, it is confirmed that the powder is a microsized porous powder in an oxide form of 99.9% or more. Rare earth oxides are recovered from Ni-MH battery by-products through two solvent extraction processes and one oxidation process. This study has regenerated lanthanum and neodymium oxide as a useful material.