A facile recovery process for cathodes from spent lithium iron phosphate batteries by using oxalic acid

Journal Article · 21 June 2018 · CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17775/CSEEJPES.2016.01880 · OSTI ID:1484034

Li, Li ^[1]; Lu, Jun ^[2]; Zhai, Longyu ^[1]; Zhang, Xiaoxiao ^[1]; Curtiss, Larry ^[3]; Jin, Yi ^[4]; Wu, Feng ^[1]; Chen, Renjie ^[1]; Amine, Khalil ^[2]

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1. Beijing Inst. of Technology (China). School of Materials Science and Engineering
2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division
3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Material Science Division
4. China Electric Power Research Inst., Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Operation and Control of Renewable Energy and Storage Systems

A simplistic and novel leaching process is developed to dispose spent lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO ₄ ) batteries. In this paper, oxalic acid is selected as a leaching reagent to recover lithium as a resource and remove phosphorus from LiFePO ₄ batteries, benefiting from its low natural effects. The physical properties of spent cathode materials (before leaching) and residues (after leaching) are identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The total amounts of Li and Fe are analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The process occurs under conditions of a 0.3 mol·L ^-1 oxalic acid concentration, a temperature of 80°C, a reaction time of 60 min and a solid/liquid ratio of 60 g· L ^-1 . It can effectively precipitate ~92% ferrum in terms of FeC ₂ O ₄ ·2H ₂ O from LiFePO ₄ , with the leaching efficiency of Li achieving up to 98%. This method demonstrates a new strategy for dealing with spent lithium iron phosphate batteries with a low cost and low environmental impact.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Beijing Inst. of Technology (China); China Electric Power Research Inst., Beijing (China)
• Sponsoring Organization: International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China; State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1484034
• Journal Information: CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems, Journal Name: CSEE Journal of Power and Energy Systems Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 4; ISSN 2096-0042
• Publisher: Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English