• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2024

As the demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is increasing, it is important to recover valuable metals from waste lithium-ion batteries. In this study, the effects of gas flow rate and hydrogen partial pressure on hydrogen reduction of NCM-based lithium-ion battery cathode materials were investigated. As the gas flow rate and hydrogen partial pressure increased, the weight loss rate increased significantly from the beginning of the reaction due to the reduction of NiO and CoO by hydrogen. At 700 ℃ and hydrogen partial pressure above 0.5 atm, Ni and Li₂O were produced by hydrogen reduction. From the reduction product and Li recovery rate, the hydrogen reduction of NCM-based cathode materials was significantly affected by hydrogen partial pressure. The Li compounds recovered from the solution after water leaching of the reduction products were LiOH, LiOH·H₂O, and Li₂CO₃, with about 0.02 wt% Al as an impurity.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.163-171
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• 2024

Growing demand on clean energy to control environmental pollution is growing rapidly. Rechargeable battery such as lithium ion battery is excellent source of clean energy but there is rapid depletion of lithium metal due to high demand and supply mismatch. Recovery of the precious metal from the battery waste is one of the possible solution along with the environmental pollution control. Membrane based separation method is highly successful commercial process available to recover lithium from the waste. This work will cover various methods reported recently and will be compiled in the form of a review.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2013

Although Korean domestic production of flat panel displays totalled more than 48 trillion KRW in 2007, most of the flat panel display wastes have been land-filled or incinerated, which greatly overshadows Korean national prestige as a world leading producer and developer of flat panel display devices. Countries such as Japan or EU possess quite limited land-fill capability and have sought ways to dispose of WEEEs from environment-friendly perspective rather than recovery of valuable materials from the wastes. Considering relatively short cycle of about 5 years for flat panel display devices, it is estimated that more than 5 million units will be accumulated as wastes by 2015. Urban mining is a most suitable countermeasures against China's monopoly of rare and rare earth metals, which are contained in flat panel display wastes. Therefore, materials recycling of waste LCD units has to be developed and commercialized soon enough for economic and environment-friendly recovery of valuable resources hidden in LCD wastes.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2016

This study aims at evaluating environmental impacts on recycling process of used small household appliances. The recycling process mainly consists of manual dismantling, crushing and various sorting processes to effectively recover valuable resources and to minimize environmental impact. In this study, life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to analyze major environmental parameters such as GWP, ADP, POCP, EP, etc. One of the major impact categories on the weight basis in the recycling process is global warming (GWP) 57.1%, next to ADP 35.4% and POCP 4.8%, respectively. As a result of environmental impact on recovery of valuable resources/ton, the GWP of plastics for ABS is highest (33.7%) compared to ferrous metals (9.4%). The effects of environmental and economical benefit are also analyzed to compare with the amount of virgin materials to be recycled by recycled materials. In addition, recycled materials are also more economical in comparison to virgin materials due to the environmental avoiding effect by recycling. In conclusion, the key environmental issues related to the recycling of e-wastes are analyzed and therefore, the effective recycling process will contribute to mitigate global warming potential in the near future.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.44-50
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• 2015

Recycling technologies would be required in consideration of increasing demand in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, the leaching behavior of Ni, Co and Mn is investigated with ammoniacal medium for spent cathode active materials, which are separated from a commercial LIB pack in hybrid electric vehicles. The leaching behavior of each metal is analyzed in the presence of reducing agent and pH buffering agent. The existence of reducing agent is necessary to increase the leaching efficiency of Ni and Co. The leaching of Mn is insignificant even with the existence of reducing agent in contrast to Ni and Co. The most conspicuous difference between acid and ammoniacal leaching would be the selective leaching behavior between Ni/Co and Mn. The ammoniacal leaching can reduce the cost of basic reagent that makes the pH of leachate higher for the precipitation of leached metals in the acid leaching.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.231-241
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• 2005

Laboratory experiments were performed to examine the effects of water content and to see if permittivity had sufficient sensitivity to identify subsurface contamination. Both real and imaginary permittivities of unsaturated sand were strongly governed by the volumetric water content. Especially, a linear relationship between real permittivity and volumetric water content was derived at high frequencies (MHz ranges). Heavy metals in pore fluid result in significant increases in the effective imaginary permittivity, due to ionic conduction, but decreases in the real permittivity arises due to the decreased orientational polarization of water molecules caused by hydration of ions. Clear increase in the effective imaginary permittivity with heavy metal concentration was found to be valuable in the application of electrical methods for detecting heavy metals in the subsurface. However, because the permittivity is primarily dependent on the volumetric water content of soil, pre-evaluation on the volumetric water content is required.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.65-73
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• 2012

Selective catalytic reduction(SCR) catalysts are obtained from de-NOx system of thermoelectric power plant. A process was developed for valuable metals such as vanadium and tungsten recovery from spent SCR catalyst by using soda roasting followed by water leaching. Spent SCR catalyst having $V_2O_5$(1.23 mass %) and $WO_3$(7.73 mass %). For getting soluble metal forms of the targeted metals like vanadium and tungsten soda roasting process was implemented. In soda roasting process, sodium carbonate added 5 equivalent ratio at roasted temperature $850^{\circ}C$ with 120 min roasted time for $544{\mu}m$ particle size of spent SCR catalyst. After soda roasting process moved to water leaching for roasted spent catalyst. Before leaching process the roasted spent catalyst was grinded up to $-45{\mu}m$ size. The leaching time is 30 min at $40^{\circ}C$ temperature, 10 % pulp density. The final leaching efficiency obtained 46 % of vanadium and 92 % of tungsten from present process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.26-33
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• 2022

Owing to the demand for lithium-ion batteries, the recovery of valuable metals from waste lithium-ion batteries is required in future. A pyrometallurgical treatment is appropriate for recycling a large number of waste lithium-ion batteries, but Li loss to slag and dust present a significant challenge. This research investigated carbonation roasting and water leaching behaviors in Li-ion batteries by graphite addition to recover Li from the NCM-based cathode materials of waste Li-ion batteries. When 10 wt% of graphite was added, CO and CO₂ gases were emitted with a rapid weight reduction at apporoximately 850 K, when heated in Ar and CO₂ atmosphere. After the rapid weight reduction, NCM was decomposed and reduced to metal oxides and pure metals. In the carbonation roasting of black powder (NCM+graphite), O₂ is generated via the decomposition of NCM, and an oxides, such as Li₂O and NiO were were also generated. Subsequently, Li₂O reacts with CO₂ to generate Li₂CO₃, and a part of NiO was reduced by graphite to produce metal Ni. In addition, up to 94.5 % Li₂CO₃ with ~99.95 % purity was recovered via water leaching after carbonation roasting.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.969-976
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• 2004

Cassava peelings waste, which is both a waste and pollutant, was chemically modified using mercaptoacetic acid (MAA) and used to adsorb $Cu^{2+}\;and\;Cd^{2+}$ from aqueous solution over a wide range of reaction conditions at $30^{\circ}C$. Acid modification produced a larger surface area, which significantly enhanced the metal ion binding capacity of the biomass. An adsorption model based on the $Cu^{2+}/Cd^{2+}$ adsorption differences was developed to predict the competition of the two metal ions towards binding sites for a mixed metal ion system. The phytosorption process was examined in terms of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich models. The models indicate that the cassava waste biomass had a greater phytosorption capacity, higher affinity and greater sorption intensity for $Cu^{2+}\;than\;Cd^{2+}$. According to the evaluation using Langmuir equation, the monolayer binding capacity obtained was 127.3 mg/g $Cu^{2+}$ and 119.6 mg/g $Cd^{2+}$. The kinetic studies showed that the phytosorption rates could be described better by a pseudo-second order process and the rate coefficients was determined to be $2.04{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}\;and\;1.98{\times}10^{-3}\;min^{-1}\;for\;Cu^{2+}\;and\;Cd^{2+}$ respectively. The results from these studies indicated that acid treated cassava waste biomass could be an efficient sorbent for the removal of toxic and valuable metals from industrial effluents.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.224-228
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• 2014

Recently, the demands for separation/recovery of valuable metals such as nickel or tin from copper based alloys has been attracting much attention from the viewpoints of environmental protection and resource utilization. In this report, experimental results on concentration increasement of nickel and tin compared to the previous report are investigated. Ni is successfully separated by a organic solvent and reduced to the metal powder whose concentration is over 98 %. Sn is separated by a selective solution method and its concentration is increased to 97.5 % by three consecutive solution and reduction process. Crystal structure, surface morphology and microstructure of the separated samples are studied.