Regular Article

Preliminary investigations on hydrometallurgical treatment of spent Li-ion batteries

¹ AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Non–Ferrous Metals, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow, Poland
² AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science, International Centre of Electron Microscopy for Materials Science, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Cracow, Poland

^* e-mail: erudnik@agh.edu.pl

Received: 18 November 2018
Accepted: 7 March 2019

Abstract

The paper reports investigations of the direct recovery of copper and cobalt from sulphate solution after leaching of spent Li-ion cells. Metals of high purity (above 99%) can be selectively obtained if the electrolysis process is carried out at proper pH: 1 for Cu and 4 for Co. During cobalt electrowinning, the oxidation of Co(II) ions and formation of Co(III) compounds on the anode were observed. Lithium ions accumulated mainly in the electrolyte. Application of ammoniacal solution for selective lithium carbonate precipitation in the presence of cobalt ions was not effective due to high temperature of the process and no possible formation of the stable and soluble cobalt-ammonia complexes.