• Clean Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.28-36
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• 2024

As demand for electric vehicles increases, the market for lithium-ion batteries is also rapidly increasing. The battery life of lithium-ion batteries is limited, so waste lithium-ion batteries are inevitably generated. Accordingly, lithium was selectively preleached from waste lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄, hereafter referred to as the LFP) cathode material powder among lithium ion batteries, and iron phosphate (FePO₄) powder was recovered. The recovered iron phosphate powder was mixed with alkaline sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) powder and heat treated to confirm its crystalline phase. The heat treatment temperature was set as a variable, and then the leaching rate and powder characteristics of each ingredient were compared after water leaching using Di-water. In this study, lithium showed a leaching rate of approximately 100%, and in the case of powder heat-treated at 800 ℃, phosphorus was leached by approximately 99%, and the leaching residue was confirmed to be a single crystal phase of Fe₂O₃. Therefore, in this study, lithium, phosphorus, and iron components were individually separated and recovered from waste LFP powder.

• 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.