The invention belongs to the technical field of pyrometallurgy or resource recovery of waste lithium batteries, and relates to a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries.
The present invention belongs to the technical field of pyrometallurgy or resource recovery of waste lithium batteries, and relates to a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries.
Currently, electrification of the transport industry is considered an important step to effectively reduce carbon emissions as well as to stop global warming. A lithium battery is a key component of an electric vehicle, and bears part or all of the power output of the electric vehicle. However, the limited cycle life of Li-ion batteries and their fast replacement rate result in a large number of retired power batteries every year.
With the rapid depletion of global strategic mineral resources of Li and Co metals, in-depth recovery of valuable metals in retired power batteries will significantly extend their life cycle process. At present, the existing technology of waste lithium battery recycling has been formed to metallurgical chemistry technology, it is expected that 90% of the global waste lithium battery will enter the wet and pyrometallurgical system for recycling. Compared with wet metallurgy recycling, pyrometallurgical technology has the advantages of short process, simple and reliable equipment, low operating cost and no wastewater discharge, which is the main recycling technology route of existing recycling enterprises.
For the recovery of lithium batteries, CN 109719117A discloses a method of pyrolysis in the process of recycling and treatment of waste lithium batteries, whereby the waste battery core is wrapped with a mixture of fire extinguishing sand and conductive carbon black after the shell is removed, and the wrapped battery is placed in an airtight container with CO2 or CO2-containing mixed gases or under a vacuum atmosphere, and the airtight container is then placed in a light wave furnace and adjusted to the light wave microwave combination heating gear After heating for 5-500 seconds; after cooling down, the electric core is taken out, crushed and sieved, and electrode material powder and Cu/Al foil are obtained; it provides a carbothermal reduction roasting method using conductive carbon black as a reducing agent, and further improves the thermal efficiency by means of combined light-wave and microwave heating, and the final products are electrode material powder and Cu/Al foil.
CN 111834683A discloses a recycling method for waste LiCoO2 batteries, step 1, carrying out biomass pyrolysis of waste LiCoO2 batteries to obtain a mixture of Co powder and lithium oxide; step 2, crushing as well as sorting of said mixture of step 1 to obtain plastics, Fe, Al foils, Cu foils, and positive and negative electrode powders; step 3, carrying out slurry washing of said positive and negative electrode powders of step 2, filtering and separation, obtaining a lithium carbon hydroxide solution and a carbon-containing Co powder; step 4, reacting said LiOH solution of step 3 with HCl, obtaining LiCl; mixing and reacting the carbon-containing Co powder of said step 3 with H2SO4, and then concentrating and crystallizing thereafter, obtaining CoSO4 crystals, and completing the recycling of the waste LiCoO2 batteries; this provides for the biomass pyrolysis of waste LiCoO2 batteries, obtaining a mixture of Co powder and Li2O; namely, which is to obtain plastic, Fe, Al foil, Cu foil and positive and negative electrode powders after crushing as well as sorting the mixture; and to obtain LiCl and CoSO4 step by step by carrying out slurry washing, HCl reaction and H2SO4 leaching on the positive and negative electrode powders.
CN 109652654A discloses a method for resource recovery of metal elements from waste ternary power lithium batteries, in which the waste lithium battery crushing product is immersed in water, and then pyrolysis at high temperature in a CO2 atmosphere is carried out; the pyrolysis product is then given to acid leaching, extraction, and ammonia complexation to prepare ternary composite hydroxide.
However, all of the above methods use pyrolysis to volatilize and remove the electrolyte, and further use the organic impurities inherent in the waste lithium battery as a carbon source, or drum in the CO2 gas, through the principle of carbothermal reduction, to achieve the reduction and degradation of the waste lithium battery transition metal oxides cathode materials. However, the pyrolysis product of waste lithium battery Li—Al-transition metal elements embedded in complex, tight atomic connection, difficult to meet the quality requirements of primary industrial raw materials, still need to be separated and purified by wet acid leaching and dissolution, the economic benefits are low.
Based on the above research, there is a need to provide a method of target recycling of waste batteries, said method has a short process, low cost, and can be applied industrially to achieve the target separation of a variety of metals.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries, said method induces the solid oxygen in the waste cathode material to transfer directionally by pyrolysis to form a Co and Al2O3 coexistence environment, which effectively inhibits high temperature alloying, and at the same time, using the high temperature complexation reaction between CO and Co, induces the Co nanoparticles to target agglomeration to form millimeter-sized large particles against the CO concentration gradient, so as to achieve the recovery by magnetic separation and the method described in the present invention is capable of industrial application.
In order to achieve the purpose of this invention, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:
The present invention provides a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries, said method comprising the following steps:
As the transition metal Co nanoparticles can shuttle and move on the surface and inside the aluminum base material under specific environment, and collide and aggregate into large particles in the CO atmosphere. Further, according to the targeting principle, the present invention proposes to induce the Co nanoparticles generated by pyrolysis of waste lithium battery cathode strips to undergo CO complexation by constructing a CO concentration difference inside and outside of the sample, and to aggregate into millimeter-sized large particles against the movement of the CO concentration gradient, so as to inhibit high-temperature alloying of the mixed metals and to achieve the targeting of the alloys, such as Al, Co, to be separated.
In addition, the present invention makes use of the inherent positive electrode collector of the waste lithium battery as a reducing agent (e.g., Al foil), in situ stimulates the Al foil reduction reaction of the positive electrode material, carries out an aluminothermic reaction rather than a carbothermic reaction, and makes use of the principle of pyrolysis technology to promote the formation of a coexisting environment of Co and Al2O3 in the interphase of the solid oxygen, thereby effectively inhibiting high-temperature alloying. Specifically, according to the principle of Al—Co—O three-phase equilibrium, it is found that the only stable material phase in which these three elements coexist is Al2CoO4, which requires a large amount of oxygen to be supported, but the present application is carried out in a CO atmosphere, so stable Al2CoO4 will not be formed. On the other hand, the atmosphere of the present application will not provide gaseous oxygen, but the material phase of the positive electrode material contains a large amount of solid oxygen, so there is no absolutely oxygen-free environment, and cobalt cannot form pure metal alloys such as AlCo, Al5Co2, Al9Co2 and so on. Therefore, the present invention makes use of the characteristics of waste lithium batteries carrying solid oxygen, and achieves the separation of metal phases such as Al and Co through pyrolysis technology, laying a theoretical foundation for the recovery by magnetic separation in the subsequent steps.
The present invention carries out pyrolysis by employing a CO atmosphere, where CO does not provide a reducing effect and only acts as a gas phase complexing agent for the nascent transition metal monomers. Based on the Ellingham diagram of the Gibbs free energy composition of the oxidation reactions of different metals, it can be found that the strong reducing nature of Al allows its oxidation reaction to proceed preferentially, thus robbing oxygen from almost all metal oxides except Mg and Ca. That is, a collector such as an Al foil can reduce a wide range of metals such as nickel cobalt manganese and iron to monomers through replacement reactions. More importantly, the oxygen partial pressure minimum for the C and CO oxidation reactions (˜10-20 Pa) is much larger than the oxygen partial pressure demand for the aluminum oxidation (˜10-45 Pa), which suggests that the oxygen robbing effect of the aluminothermic reduction reaction is much more effective than that of the carbothermic reduction, proving that the CO atmosphere in the present reaction does not provide a reducing effect, but contributes to the generation of de novo transition metal monomers complexes only.
Preferably, in the CO atmosphere described in step (2), the CO has a gas pressure of 10-800 Pa, for example, it may be 10 Pa, 50 Pa, 100 Pa, 200 Pa, 300 Pa, 400 Pa, 500 Pa, 600 Pa, 700 Pa or 800 Pa, but is not limited to the enumerated values, and other unenumerated values in the numerical range are equally applicable, preferably 100-500 Pa.
Preferably, said CO atmosphere of step (2) is a low-vacuum carbon monoxide atmosphere, said low-vacuum CO atmosphere being formed by passing carbon monoxide at 10-800 Pa under vacuum conditions.
The gas pressure of said CO of the present invention affects the effect of pyrolysis, because CO as a gas complexing agent, if the content is too low, the complexation decreases; if the content of CO is too high, a low vacuum environment cannot be formed, thus affecting the effect of the vacuum pyrolysis, i.e., the said CO atmosphere of the present invention comprises only a small amount of CO gas, ensures the low-vacuum conditions, and employs a low-vacuum CO high-temperature environment for the chemical reaction, which induces the CO-induced nascent cobalt nanoparticles to form Co(CO)n metal complexes, avoiding the formation of Al2CoO4 stabilized compounds, and at the same time avoiding the formation of metal alloys without oxygen.
Preferably, the source of CO gas in said CO atmosphere of step (2) comprises pyrolysis gas of biomass.
Preferably, said biomass comprises any one or a combination of at least two of wood chips, domestic waste or garden waste.
Preferably, said reducing agent for pyrolysis of step (2) comprises a collector fluid of said positive electrode strip.
Preferably, said collector fluid is Al foil.
The present invention employs Al foil as the positive electrode collector of the positive electrode strip, so that the Al foil acts as a reducing agent for an aluminothermic reaction to reduce other metals to metal monomers.
Preferably, the complexing agent for the pyrolysis described in step (2) comprises CO.
Preferably, said pyrolysis of step (2) comprises a primary warming to a first temperature, followed by a secondary warming to a second temperature, and finally a cooling.
Preferably, said first temperature is 400-600° C., for example it may be 400° C., 450° C., 500° C., 550° C. or 600° C., and the holding time at the first temperature is 20-40 min, for example it may be 20 min, 30 min or 40 min, but is not limited to the enumerated values, and other unenumerated values within the numerical range are equally applicable.
Preferably, said heating rate of said primary heating is 15-25° C./min, for example it may be 15° C./min, 20° C./min or 25° C./min, but is not limited to the values listed, other values not listed in the numerical range are equally applicable.
Preferably, said second temperature is 700-900° C., for example, it can be 700° C., 800° C. or 900° C., and the holding time at the second temperature is 50-70 min, for example, it can be 50 min, 60 min or 70 min, but not limited to the values listed, other values not listed in the value range are equally applicable.
Preferably, said rate of warming of said secondary warming is 5-15° C./min, for example it may be 5° C./min, 8° C./min, 10° C./min or 15° C./min, but is not limited to the values listed, other values not listed in the numerical range are equally applicable.
Preferably, said cooling to 20-35° C., for example, may be 23° C., 25° C., 30° C. or 35° C., but is not limited to the values listed, other values not listed in the numerical range are equally applicable.
Preferably, the magnetic separation product described in step (2) comprises magnetically selected cobalt powder and non-magnetically selected lithium aluminates. Preferably, said alkaline solution of step (3) comprises a CaOH2 solution.
Preferably, the concentration of Li in said Li rich solution of step (3) is 5-10 g/L, for example, it may be 5 g/L, 7.5 g/L, 9.5 g/L or 10 g/L, but is not limited to the listed values, other unlisted values within the numerical range are equally applicable.
Preferably, the used battery described in step (1) is first physically short-circuited and discharged, then immersed in a salt solution and discharged, and finally dried and disassembled to obtain the positive electrode strip.
Preferably, the manner of crushing described in step (1) comprises shear crushing.
Preferably, the waste battery described in step (1) comprises a waste lithium cobalt acid battery.
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, said method comprises the following steps:
Relative to the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:
By adopting CO atmosphere pyrolysis, the present invention constructs a CO concentration difference inside and outside the sample, induces the nanoparticles generated by pyrolysis of waste lithium battery positive electrode strips to undergo CO complexation and move against the CO concentration gradient to aggregate into millimeter-sized large particles, thus inhibiting the high temperature alloying of the mixed metals and realizing the target separation of alloys such as Al, Co, etc., and the method described in the present invention is capable of being applied in an industrialized manner.
The technical embodiments of the present invention are further described below by way of specific embodiments. It should be clear to those skilled in the art that the described embodiments are merely to aid in the understanding of the present invention and should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present invention.
This embodiment provides a method of targeting recycling of used batteries, a flow chart of said method is shown in
The scanning electron microscope diagram of the movement of the Co metal nanoparticles during the pyrolysis process described in the present invention is shown in
The present invention has carried out a number of parallel experiments on Example 1 as follows:
The above results show that the method described in the present invention has excellent recovery effect, and the stability of the recovery effect is high, and it is also capable of industrial application.
This embodiment provides a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries, said method comprising the following steps:
This embodiment provides a method of targeting recycling of waste batteries, said method comprising the following steps:
This embodiment provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as embodiment 1 except that step (4) is passed into 10 Pa of CO.
The present embodiment provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as embodiment 1 except that step (4) is passed into 100 Pa of CO.
The present embodiment provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as embodiment 1 except that step (4) passes through 500 Pa of CO.
The present embodiment provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as embodiment 1 except that step (4) passes through 800 Pa of CO.
The present embodiment provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as Example 1 except that step (4) passes through 1000 Pa of CO.
The present contrasting proportion provides a method of targeted recycling of used batteries, said method being the same as Example 1 except that step (4) is passed into 200 Pa of carbon dioxide.
The present contrasting ratio provides a method of targeted recycling of waste batteries, said method is the same as Example 1 except that step (4) is passed into 200 Pa of nitrogen.
The recovery efficiency of Co in the Co powder product obtained from the above embodiments and the relative proportion, the purity of the Co powder, the purity of the LiAlO2, and the concentration of Li in the Li-rich solution are shown in the following table:
As can be seen from Table 1:
As can be seen from Example 1 with counterparts 1-2, the CO atmosphere of the present invention is capable of effectively recovering metal Co powder and LiAlO2, which, combined with
In summary, the present invention provides a method of targeting recovery of waste batteries, said method induces the solid oxygen in the waste cathode material to transfer directionally through pyrolysis to form a Co and Al2O3 coexistence environment, which effectively inhibits high temperature alloying, and at the same time, utilizes the high temperature complexation reaction between CO and nascent cobalt induce cobalt nanoparticles to target aggregation to form millimeter-sized large particles in reverse of the CO concentration gradient, thereby realizing magnetic separation and recovery.
The above description is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto, and technicians in the technical field should understand that any changes or substitutions that can be readily thought of by technicians in the technical field within the technical scope of the disclosure of the present invention fall within the scope of protection and disclosure of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2023114823249 | Nov 2023 | CN | national |