Direct recycling of Li-ion battery cathode material

With the rapid growth of the lithium-ion battery (LIBs) market, recycling and re-using end-of-life LIBs to reclaim the critical Li, Co, Ni, and Mn has become an urgent task. High temperature, strong acid, and alkali conditions are required to extract blended critical metals (CM) from the typical battery cathode. Hence, there is a need for more effective recycling processes for recycling blended Li, Co, Ni, and their direct regeneration for reuse in LIBs. The Project aims to develop recycling technology for degraded battery cathode active materials based on the thermal decomposition of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) by using calcination and air-jet stripping of active materials. The proposed air-jet erosion method of calcined cathode material stripping from Al foil allows for the flexible industry-applicable separation process, which is damage-free for both particles and substrate. The CaO calcination – air-jet separation process and equipment can significantly improve the PVDF decomposition and the separation efficiency of the cathode materials. It is demonstrated that low-temperature CaO calcination at 350-450oC associated with air-jet separation of active material is characterized by low environmental impact, high purity of the recycled material, and low cost compared to pyro- and hydrometallurgical methods.