Recycling of Li(Ni,Co,Mn)O2 via a chlorination technique

• Published in: The Korean journal of chemical engineering Vol. 39; no. 6; pp. 1472 - 1477
• Main Authors: Jeon, Min Ku, Kim, Sung-Wook, Eun, Hee-Chul, Lee, Keunyoung, Kim, Hyungsub, Oh, Maengkyo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2022; Springer Nature B.V; 한국화학공학회
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chlorine; Energy; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Manganese; Materials Science; Metal chlorides; Nickel; Recycled materials; Synthesis; Transition metals; 화학공학; Li-ion Battery; Chlorination; Transition-metal Recovery; Cathode Material; Recycle
• ISSN: 0256-1115; 1975-7220
• DOI: 10.1007/s11814-022-1083-6

A new approach to recycle Li(Ni,Co,Mn)O 2 (NCM, Ni : Co : Mn=1 : 1 : 1) is introduced and experimentally demonstrated. Chlorine gas was employed as a reaction agent to selectively extract Li from NCM. Through a reaction at 550 °C for 4 h under a 180 mL/min Ar+20 mL/min Cl 2 flow, Li was converted into water-soluble LiCl, while the initial transition metals (Ni, Co, and Mn) were converted into a spinel-type oxide phase. Minor amount of transition metals, which reacted with Cl 2 to produce transition-metal chlorides, were recovered in the subsequent precipitation step. An amount of 94.9 wt% of transition-metal recovery ratio was achieved through the recovery processes. The amount of Li recovered as Li 2 CO 3 was 35.8 wt% of the initial amount. A new NCM was successfully re-synthesized using the recovered materials as well as additional Li 2 CO 3 , resulting in a layered NCM structure. The re-synthesized NCM was electrochemically evaluated by fabricating a CR2032 coin cell which exhibited a capacity of 105 mAh/g.