Journal
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Volume 150, Issue -, Pages 320-327Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.07.026
Keywords
Green recovery technology; Lithium extraction; Graphite recovery; Electrochemical lithium deposition
Categories
Funding
- Department of Energy, Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Ames National Laboratory
- U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University of Science and Technology [DE-AC02-07CH11358]
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This article introduces a process of lithium recovery using lithium plating, which allows for the extraction of metallic lithium at room temperature using water. Experimental results show a 37% improvement in lithium recovery rate with fast charging. This process also enables the recovery of high-purity graphite and transition metal oxides.
The expected exponential increase in consumption of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) would pose a unique challenge to the availability of near-critical resources like lithium and graphite in the upcoming decade. We present a lithium recovery process that utilizes a degradation mechanism, i.e., lithium plating, as a tool to concentrate metallic lithium at the anode/separator interface for convenient extraction at room temperature - using only water. Electrochemical characterization of fast charged (1-6 C) LIBs yielded a maximum capacity fade of 50% over ten cycles. The lithium plating was confirmed via voltage plateau analysis, coulombic efficiency, and DC resistance measurements. A maximum lithium plating condition was observed to exist between 4C and 5C, thereby limiting the energy consumption in the extraction process. Post-mortem film thickness measurement showed an incrementing film deposition with a maximum of 35 mu m thickness. SEM and XPS analysis confirmed increasing concentration of a dense dendritic metallic lithium deposition on the anode/separator interface with C-rate. A green recovery process was adopted to extract the concentrated metallic lithium using distilled water. The lithium from the plated film, solid/electrolyte interface (SEI), electrolyte, anode, and cathode, was extracted as salts. A 37% improvement in lithium recoverability was achieved with fast charging under ambient conditions. XPS analysis showed-92% of lithium yield with no residual lithium in the graphite. In addition, the battery-grade graphite was recovered with 97% purity after heat treatment of the washed anode film, and concen-trated transition metals oxides in the cathode to 93% purity for convenient extraction.
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