Energy Storage Science and Technology ›› 2021, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (1): 68-76.doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2020.0289

• Energy Storage Materials and Devices • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research progress of inorganic acids in hydrometallurgical recovery technology

Linlin LI1(), Yujie WANG1, Yifei MEN1, Wei YANG1(), Hanbo ZOU2, Shengzhou CHEN2   

  1. 1.College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University
    2.Institutes of Energy and Catalytic Research, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2020-08-27 Revised:2020-09-05 Online:2021-01-05 Published:2021-01-08

Abstract:

With the recent popularity of electric vehicles, the production demand for lithium-ion batteries has soared, and a corresponding number of spent lithium-ion batteries has also rapidly increased. Discarded lithium-ion batteries can contribute to environmental pollution, threaten human health, and are a waste of precious resources. From the point of view of environmental protection and resource utilization, recovering spent lithium-ion batteries directly addresses both the resource and pollution problems, so it is of the utmost importance to develop recycling technologies. Unfortunately, the recycling technologies of spent lithium-ion batteries are not widely used due to the complex process, high cost, and potential secondary pollution. At present, the hydrometallurgical technology is the most promising for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries. The process is simple, the recovery efficiency is high, and the cost is low. In this paper, the following topics are covered: ① the research progress using an inorganic acid as a leaching agent in hydrometallurgical recovery technologies is described in detail; ② the characteristics of several commonly used inorganic acids are introduced; ③ the reaction conditions and metal leaching efficiency of various inorganic acids are compared, and ④ the thermodynamic reaction mechanism during leaching is analyzed. In future research, it is necessary to vigorously promote the development of technologies for recycling spent lithium-ion batteries and to find a more environmentally friendly and universal process. Along with this development, the field should focus on understanding the reaction mechanism and explore more efficient recovery methods.

Key words: spent lithium-ion batteries, hydrometallurgy, recycling, leaching agent, mechanism

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