• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2022

The smelting reduction of spent lithium-ion batteries results in metallic alloys containing Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Si. A process to separate metal ions from the sulfuric acid leaching solution of these metallic alloys has been reported. In this process, ionic liquids are employed to separate Fe(III) and Cu(II). In this study, D2EHPA and Cyanex 301 were employed to replace these ionic liquids. Fe(III) and Cu(II) from the sulfate solution were sequentially extracted using 0.5 M D2EHPA with three stages of cross-current and 0.3 M Cyanex 301. The stripping of Fe(III) and Cu(II) from the loaded phases was performed using 50% (v/v) and 60% (v/v) aqua regia solutions, respectively. The mass balance results from this process indicated that the recovery and purity percentages of the metals were greater than 99%.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 2020

An investigation of rare metals recovery from LiNi_xCo_yMn_zO₂ cathode material of the end-of-life lithium-ion batteries is presented. To determine the influence of reductant on the leach process, the cathode material (containing Li 7.6%, Co 20.4%, Mn 19.4%, and Ni 19.3%) was leached in H₂SO₄ solutions either with or without H₂O₂. The optimal process parameters with respect to acid concentration, addition dosage of H₂O₂, temperature, and the leaching time were found to be 2.0 M H₂SO₄, 4 vol.% H₂O₂, 70℃, and 150 min, respectively. The yield of metal values in the leach liquor was > 99%. The leach liquor was subsequently treated by precipitation techniques to recover nickel as Ni(C₄H₇N₂O₂)₂ and lithium as Li₂CO₃ with stoichiometric ratios of 2:1 and 1.2:1 of dimethylglyoxime:Ni and Na₂CO₃:Li, respectively. Cobalt was recovered by solvent extraction following a 3-stage process using Na-Cyanex 272 at pH_eq ~5.0 with an organic-to-aqueous phase ratio (O/A) of 2/3. The loaded organic phase was stripped with 2.0 M H₂SO₄ at an O/A ratio of 8/1 to yield a solution of 114 g/L CoSO₄; finally recovered CoSO₄.xH₂O by crystallization. The process economics were analyzed and found to be viable with a margin of $476 per ton of the cathode material.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

Lithium-ion batteries have greatly expanded along with the mobile phone market, and as the electric vehicle business is activated in earnest, they will attract many people's attention even afterwards. Until now, many people have attracted attention to the recovery of valuable metals inside lithium-ion batteries, but graphite, which is mainly used as an anode material, is also worth recycling. Therefore, in order to recover graphite with high purity and valuable metals, graphite that can be used as an anode material of a secondary battery may be generated again through a regeneration process of purifying and separating graphite from a waste lithium-ion battery and recovering electrical characteristics of graphite. This paper describes the process of converting waste graphite into regenerated graphite and the environmental and economic effects of regenerated graphite.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.154-162
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• 2010

This study was carried out to compare the efficacy and selectivity of TOS and BS media for enumeration of bifidobacteria in commercial fermented milk products. First, bifidobacteria was isolated from 20 fermented milk products, and all isolated bifidobacteria were identified by genomic technology as Bifidobacterium lactis. The two media significantly differed from each other with regard to the recovery of B. lactis, that is, the recovery of this organism was as much as 6 logs lower on BS medium than on TOS. When the concentration of BS solution (mixture of paromomycin sulfate, neomycin, sodium propionate, and lithium chloride) used in BS medium was reduced to 50% (BS50), a relatively high percentage recovery of bifidobacteria from pure cultures was achieved. Susceptibility tests to antibiotics and tests for selective agents for the isolated bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria were conducted. The BS solution inhibited some lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacterium species, while mupirocin (MU) suppressed the growth of all tested lactic acid bacteria but not Bifidobacterium. As compared with BS50 medium, TOS with or without MU showed good bifidobacteria recovery and readily distinguishable colonies; in particular, TOS supplemented with MU had a high selectivity for bifidobacteria. In conclusion, all results suggested that TOS medium with or without MU was found to be suitable for selective enumeration of bifidobacteria from mixed cultures in fermented milk, and better in that capacity than BS medium.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.73-80
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• 2013

Marine mineral resources are classified into submarine and seawater mineral resources. In seawater, huge amounts of useful minerals, such as uranium, lithium, magnesium, aluminum, zinc, iron, silver, copper, vanadium, nickel, titanium and cobalt are present. If the rare metals recovery technology from seawater is developed, the commercialization of the precess will be possible. For the 21st century, countries rich in resoures tend to weaponize the resources, according to the depletion of reserves and quality degradation of metal resources in the land. Therefore, Korea that relies on imports for most of the metal resources, should focus on the research and development of the rare metals recovery technology from seawater by using the geographical characteristics of the country that is on three sea-sides.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.896-899
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• 1999

A carbon dioxide gas sensor was studied as a function of temperature and $CO_2$concentration in the Li$_2$ZrO$_3$ system. Lithium zirconate(Li$_2$ZrO$_3$) was synthesized by the heat-treatment of zirconia(ZrO$_2$)and Lithium carbonate(Li$_2$CO$_3$). The specimens were prepared both as bulk disk, 10mm in diameter and 1.0mm thickness, and thick films on an alumina substrate. Lithium zirconate readily responded to $CO_2$concentration from 0.1% to 100% in the range of 45$0^{\circ}C$ to $650^{\circ}C$. The sensitivity to $CO_2$ was dependent on the measuring temperature. Lithium zirconate(Li$_2$ZrO$_3$) decomposes into Li$_2$CO$_3$ and ZrO$_2$after the reaction with $CO_2$in the range of 45$0^{\circ}C$ to $650^{\circ}C$. Li$_2$CO$_3$ changes into Li$_2$O and $CO_2$ above $650^{\circ}C$. The material showed difficulty with reversibility and recovery. The optimum temperature for the highest sensitivity is around 55$0^{\circ}C$.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.3-9
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• 2007

Dismantlement of lithium primary batteries without explosion is required to recycle the lithium primary batteries which could be exploded by heating too much or crushing. In the present study, the optimum discharging condition was investigated to dismantle the batteries without explosion. When the batteries were discharged with $0.5kmol{\cdot}m^{-3}$ sulfuric acid, the batteries became inert after 4 days at $35^{\circ}C$ and after 1 day at $50^{\circ}C$, respectively. This result shows that higher temperature accelerates inert of the batteries. Because loss of metals recycled increases when the batteries are discharged only with the sulfuric acid, discharging process using acid solution and water was newly proposed. When the batteries were discharged with water during 24 hours after discharging with $0.5kmol{\cdot}m^{-3}$ sulfuric acid during 6 hours, the batteries discharged were dismantled without explosion. Because decrease in loss of metals was accomplished by new process, the recycling process of the batteries could become economic by the 2-step discharging process.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.446-452
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• 2019

We have developed a method that can leach Co, Mn, and Ni in the cathode active material safely using lactic acid. When cathode active material was leached by lactic acid, lactic acid showed the highest efficiency at 2 N than 1 N and above 4 N concentration. When the cathode active material was added incrementally into the solution of lactic acid, the maximum solubility was 30 g/L at 2 N concentration. Oxalic acid was added in the solution of lactic acid and it showed that rare metals represent the most economical recovery efficiency at 4 g/L. Based on this study, it was found that the optimal condition for recovery of rare metals from cathode active material is oxalic acid : cathode active material = 7 : 1 as a ratio of weight. In addition, it was observed that the precipitate produced by oxalic acid is a polynuclear crystalline material bonded with 3 components of Co, Ni, and Mn.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.3-8
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• 2023

This study discussed production, demand, and future prospects of rubidium, which is an alkali group metal that is highly reactive to various media and requires carefulness in handling, but no significant environmental hazard of rubidium has been reported yet. Rubidium is used in various fields such as optoelectronic equipment, biomedical, and chemical industries. Because of difficulty in production as well as limited demand, the transaction price of rubidium is relatively high, but its detail information such as market status and potential growth is uncertain. However, if the mass production of versatile ultra-high-performance equipment such as quantum computers and the necessity of rubidium use in the equipment are confirmed, there is a possibility that the rubidium market will expand in the future. Rubidium is often found together with lithium, beryllium, and cesium, and may be present in granite containing minerals such as lepidolite and pollucite, as well as in seawater and industrial waste. Several technologies such as acid leaching, roasting, solvent extraction, and adsorption are used to recover rubidium. The maximum recovery efficiency of the rubidium from the sources and the processing above is generally high, but, in many practices, rubidium is not the main recovery target, and therefore the actual recovery effects should depend on presence of other valuable components or impurities, together with recovery costs, energy consumption, environmental issues, etc. In conclusion, although the current production and consumption of rubidium are limited, with consideration of the possible market fluctuations according to the emergence of large-scale demand sources, etc., further investigations by related institutions should be necessary.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.296-301
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• 2018

In this study, an experiment is performed to recover the Li in $Li_2CO_3$ phase from the cathode active material NMC ($LiNiCoMnO_2$) in waste lithium ion batteries. Firstly, carbonation is performed to convert the LiNiO, LiCoO, and $Li_2MnO_3$ phases within the powder to $Li_2CO_3$ and NiO, CoO, and MnO. The carbonation for phase separation proceeds at a temperature range of $600^{\circ}C{\sim}800^{\circ}C$ in a $CO_2$ gas (300 cc/min) atmosphere. At $600{\sim}700^{\circ}C$, $Li_2CO_3$ and NiO, CoO, and MnO are not completely separated, while Li and other metallic compounds remain. At $800^{\circ}C$, we can confirm that LiNiO, LiCoO, and $Li_2MnO_3$ phases are separated into $Li_2CO_3$ and NiO, CoO, and MnO phases. After completing the phase separation, by using the solubility difference of $Li_2CO_3$ and NiO, CoO, and MnO, we set the ratio of solution (distilled water) to powder after carbonation as 30:1. Subsequently, water leaching is carried out. Then, the $Li_2CO_3$ within the solution melts and concentrates, while NiO, MnO, and CoO phases remain after filtering. Thus, $Li_2CO_3$ can be recovered.