Recovery of Copper and Aluminum from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Froth Flotation: A Sustainable Approach

摘要

Recycling spent batteries to recover their valuable materials is one of the hot topics within metallurgical investigations. While recycling active materials (Li, Co, Ni, and Mn) from lithium-ion batteries (LIB) is the main focus of these recycling studies, surprisingly, a few works have been conducted on the other valuable metals. Copper and aluminum foils are essential parts of each LIB cell; thus, end-of-life batteries can be a superior resource for these metals. However, yet no efficient and low-cost separation system has been established to recover them. This study conducted and presented a novel approach for separating copper, aluminum, and plastic content from spent LIBs by froth flotation to tackle these drawbacks. In this paper, a feasible flow sheet for the successful recycling of LIB was presented, although the main target was the recovery of Cu and Al. Outcomes of experimental design for conventional flotation separation indicated that Cu and Al as pure coarse particles could be completely recovered and recycled through the suggested flowsheet. Flotation metallurgical responses (recovery and kinetics) have been proposed as a practical and environmental procedure for the industrial-scale recycling of Cu and Al from spent LIB.