• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.699-710
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• 2019

Electric vehicles (EVs) are spreading rapidly and many counties are promoting hybrid and fully EVs through legislation. Therefore, an increasing amount of lithium ion batteries will reach the end of their usable life and will require effective and sustainable end-of-life management plan which include landfill disposal or incineration. The current research focuses on more sustainable methods such as remanufacturing, reuse and recycling in order to prepare for future battery compositions and provide insights to the need recycling methods to be developed to handle large amounts of batteries sustainably in the near future. The two most prominent material recovery techniques are hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy which are explored and assessed on their relative effectiveness, sustainability, and feasibility. Hydrometallurgy is a superior recycling method due to high material recovery and purity, very low emissions, high prevalence of chemical reuse and implementation of environmentally sustainable compounds. Expanding recycling technologies globally should take the research and technologies pioneered by Umicore to establish a sustainable recycling program for end-of-life EVs batteries. Emerging battery technology of Telsa show the most effective designs for high performance batteries includes the use of silicon which is expected to increase capacity of batteries in the future.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2016

Nickel laterite ore is classified into two principal ore types: saprolite (silicate ore) and limonite (oxide ore). Saprolite-type ore characterized by high magnesia and silica contents is treated by pyrometallurgy process. On the other hand, limonite-type ore is subjected to hydrometallurgy process to produce nickel products. Hydrometallurgy process requires that a raw material to meet the demands that Si+Mg contents lower than 10% and Fe content over than 40%. It is therefore required that separation of saprilite-type ore to use nickel laterite ore as a raw material for hydrometallurgy process. In this study, separation of sparolite-type ore and limonite-type ore from nickel laterite ore from New Caledonia has been tried by dry classification. The results show that -5 mm size fraction and +5 mm size fraction of the nickel laterite ore contains mainly limonite-type ore and saprolite-type ore, respectively. To understand the moisture content of the raw ore on the dry classification, nickel laterite ore with different moisture contents of 23.0% and 9.1% were subjected to the dry classification. The results show that drying of the ore makes the separation more efficient as the amount of the fine product, that can be subjected to hydrometallurgy process without further separation or drying operations, was increased.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2022

Cobalt is a vital metal in the modern society because of its applications in lithium-ion batteries, super alloys, hard metals, and catalysts. Further, cobalt is a representative rare metal and is the 30th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of cobalt extraction and recycling processes, along with the trends in its production amount and use. Although cobalt occurs in a wide range of minerals, such as oxides and sulfides of copper and nickel ores, the amounts of cobalt in the minerals are too low to be extracted economically. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads cobalt mining, and accounts for 68.9 % of the global cobalt reserves (142,000 tons in 2020). Cobalt is mainly extracted from copper-cobalt and nickel-cobalt concentrates and is occasionally extracted directly from the ore itself by hydro-, pyro-, and electro-metallurgical processes. These smelting methods are essential for developing new recycling processes to extract cobalt from secondary resources. Cobalt is mainly recycled from lithium-ion batteries, spent catalysts, and cobalt alloys. The recycling methods for cobalt also depend on the type of secondary cobalt resource. Major recycling methods from secondary resources are applied in pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2023

As the demand for lithium-ion batteries, a key power source in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, continues to increase for achieving global carbon neutrality, there is a growing concern about the environmental impact of disposing of spent batteries. Extensive research is underway to develop efficient recycling methods. While hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy methods are commonly used to recover valuable metals from spent cathode materials, they have drawbacks including hazardous waste and complex processes. Hence, alternative recycling methods that are environmentally friendly are being explored. However, recycling spent cathode materials still remains complex and energy-intensive. This study focuses on a novel approach called solid-state synthesis, which aims at regenerating the performance of spent cathode materials. The method offers a simpler process and reduces energy consumption. Optimal heat treatment conditions were identified based on experimental results, contributing to the development of sustainable recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.30-41
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• 2019

Global production of zinc is about 13 million tons and zinc is the fourth-most widely used primary metal in the world following iron, aluminum and copper. When zinc is recycled to produce secondary zinc, it can save about 75 % of the total energy that is needed to produce the primary zinc from ore, and in therms of $CO_2$ emissions reduced by about 40 %. However, since zinc is mainly used for galvanizing of steel, the recycling rate of zinc is about 25 %, which is lower than other metals. The raw materials for recycling of zinc include dusts generated in the production of steel and brass, sludge in the production process of non-ferrous metals, dross in the melting of zinc ingots or hot dip galvanizing, waste batteries, and metallic scrap. Among them, steelmaking dust and waste batteries are most actively recycled up to now. Most of the recycling process uses pyrometallurgical methods. Recently, however, much attention has been given to a combined process of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.3-14
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• 2019

Lead is one of the common non-ferrous metals used in modern industry. The usage of lead continues to increase and has risen from 5 million tonnes per year worldwide in the 1970s to 11 million tonnes in the 2010s. In principle lead is virtually 100 % recyclable as an element without loss of quality. The recycling of lead scrap reduces the energy consumption and environmental burden, comparing to the primary metal production. Therefore production of secondary lead from scrap has been steadily growing and at present it meets approximately 60 % of usage worldwide. Lead scrap (mainly lead-acid battery) is smelted in primary and secondary smelter. Most secondary lead smelting were performed in a shaft-type furnace (blast furnace), rotary furnace and reverberatory furnace. The lead bullion is either cast into ingots and re-melted in refining kettles or refining is performed on the hot lead bullion immediately after production. This work provides an overview of the primary lead production and recycling process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.3-14
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• 2019

Copper is one of the first metals utilized by humankind about 11,500 years ago. But copper is not plentiful metallic element in the earth's crust. Copper has a high thermal and electric conductivity and is relatively corrosion resistant. In principle copper is virtually 100 % recyclable as an element without loss of quality. The recycling of copper scrap reduces the energy consumption and environmental burden, comparing to the primary metal production. Currently, approximately 30% of the global copper supply provides by recycling. Copper scrap is smelted in primary and secondary smelter. Type of furnace and process steps depend on the quality and grade of scrap. Depending on copper content of the secondary raw material, refining is required, which is usually done through electrorefining. This work provides an overview of the primary copper production and recycling process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.3-13
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• 2021

Nickel is widely used due to its excellent toughness, malleability and enhanced corrosion resistance. Therefore, nickel is indispensable in our daily lives, and it is widely used in basic to advanced applications such as stainless steel, super alloys and electronic devices. Recently, nickel has been widely used as the major material in secondary batteries and capacitors. The use of nickel continues to rise and has increased from 800 thousand tonnes per year worldwide in the 1970s to about 2 million tonnes in the 2010s. However, nickel is a representative rare metal and ranks 23rd among the abundant elements in the earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of the nickel smelting processes as well as the trend in production amount and use. Nickel is extracted by a wide variety of smelting methods depending on the type of ore. These smelting methods are essential for the development of new recycling processes that can extract nickel from secondary nickel resources.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.64-74
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• 2016

Titanium and iron are closely related in nature, although titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Iron in titanium ores must be removed for use as feedstocks in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments and pure $TiCl_4$ for metal titanium. In this study, various beneficiation processes of ilmenite for production of $TiO_2$ have been reviewed and compared. Most of these processes involve a combination of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. These beneficiation processes of ilmenite generate considerable quantities of wastes primarily in the form of iron salt, iron oxide and acidic effluents. Therefore, it is important that recovery of acid value from waste and conversion of iron bearing waste to useful materials for development of new beneficiation processes of ilmenite.