• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2023

Because the application of lithium has gradually increased for the production of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), more research studies about recycling using solvent extraction (SX) should focus on Li⁺ recovery from the waste solution obtained after the removal of the valuable metals nickel, cobalt and manganese (NCM). The raffinate obtained after the removal of NCM metal contains lithium ions and other impurities such as Na ions. In this study, we optimized a selective SX system using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as the extractant and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) as a modifier in kerosene for the recovery of lithium from a waste solution containing lithium and a high concentration of sodium (Li⁺ = 0.5 ~ 1 wt%, Na⁺ = 3 ~6.5 wt%). The extraction of lithium was tested in different solvent compositions and the most effective extraction occurred in the solution composed of 20% D2EHPA + 20% TBP + and 60% kerosene. In this SX system with added NaOH for saponification, more than 95% lithium was selectively extracted in four extraction steps using an organic to aqueous ratio of 5:1 and an equilibrium pH of 4 ~ 4.5. Additionally, most of the Na⁺ (92% by weight) remained in the raffinate. The extracted lithium is stripped using 8 wt% HCl to yield pure lithium chloride with negligible Na content. The lithium chloride is subsequently treated with high purity ammonium bicarbonate to afford lithium carbonate powder. Finally the lithium carbonate is washed with an adequate amount of water to remove trace amounts of sodium resulting in highly pure lithium carbonate powder (purity > 99.2%).