Recovery of lithium from the effluent obtained in the process of spent lithium-ion batteries recycling.

A novel process of lithium recovery as lithium ion sieve from the effluent obtained in the process of spent lithium-ion batteries recycling is developed. Through a two-stage precipitation process using NaCO and NaPO as precipitants, lithium is recovered as raw LiCO and pure LiPO, respectively. Under the best reaction condition (both the amounts of NaCO and LiPOvs. the theoretical ones are about 1.1), the corresponding recovery rates of lithium (calculated based on the concentration of the previous stage) are 74.72% and 92.21%, respectively. The raw LiCO containing the impurity of NaCO is used to prepare LiMnO as lithium ion sieve, and the tolerant level of sodium on its property is studied through batch tests of adsorption capacity and corrosion resistance. When the weight percentage of NaCO in raw LiCO is controlled less than 10%, the Mn corrosion percentage of LiMnO decreases to 21.07%, and the adsorption capacity can still keep at 40.08 mg g. The results reveal that the conventional separation sodium from lithium may be avoided through the application of the raw LiCO in the field of lithium ion sieve.