Processes for preparing hydroxides and oxides of various metals and derivatives thereof

1. A process for preparing a metal hydroxide for use in the manufacture of a cathode material for lithium ion batteries comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum, said process comprising:

reacting a metal sulfate with lithium hydroxide and optionally a chelating agent in order to obtain a solid comprising said metal hydroxide and a liquid comprising lithium sulfate, said metal sulfate comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum;

separating said liquid and said solid from one another to obtain said metal hydroxide;

submitting said liquid comprising lithium sulfate to an electromembrane process for converting said lithium sulfate into lithium hydroxide; and

reusing said lithium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process for reacting with said metal sulfate.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein said solid is a precipitate comprising said metal hydroxide, said precipitate being obtained at a pH of about 8 to about 14.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the chelating agent is chosen from NH 3 , NH 4 OH, acetylacetone, 5-sulfosalicylic acid, and oxalic acid.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the chelating agent is chosen from EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) NTA (nitrilotriacetic acid), DCTA (trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexanetetraacetic acid), DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid), and EGTA (ethylene glycol bis(2-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid).

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said metal hydroxide is NiCoAl(OH) 2 or NiMnCo(OH) 2 .

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said metal hydroxide is chosen from Ni 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 (OH) 2 , Ni 0.8 Mn 0.8 Co 0.1 (OH) 2 and Ni 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 (OH) 2 .

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said metal oxide is chosen from LiNi 0.33 Mn 0.33 Co 0.33 O 2 , LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 , LiNi 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 , LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 and LiNi 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 .

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said lithium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process is crystallized before being reacted with said obtained metal hydroxide to obtain a mixture of metal hydroxides.

9. The process of claim 8 , wherein said process comprises submitting said liquid comprising said lithium sulfate to said electromembrane process for converting said lithium sulfate into said lithium hydroxide and to generate sulfuric acid.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein an anolyte of said electromembrane process is treated by substantially selectively precipitating a sulfate therefrom, thereby increasing H 2 SO 4 concentration.

11. The process of claim 10 , wherein LiOH is substantially selectively precipitated over sodium hydroxide by evaporative crystallisation.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the metal sulfate is obtained from a metal source.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein the metal sulfate is obtained by leaching or stripping the metal source with electrochemically generated sulfuric acid.

14. The process of claim 12 , wherein the metal source is a spent battery or a constituent thereof.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reacting of said metal sulfate with lithium hydroxide comprises reacting said metal sulfate and lithium hydroxide with sodium hydroxide to obtain said metal hydroxide, wherein the sodium hydroxide is used to increase pH.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein sodium hydroxide is reacted with said metal sulfate and lithium hydroxide.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein sodium hydroxide is used as a pH enhancer to cause precipitation of said metal hydroxide.

18. The process of claim 1 , wherein the metal hydroxide is chosen from nickel-cobalt-manganese hydroxides, nickel-cobalt-aluminum hydroxides, lithium-cobalt hydroxides, nickel hydroxides, nickel-cobalt-manganese oxyhydroxides, nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxyhydroxides, nickel oxyhydroxides and lithium-cobalt oxyhydroxides.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein H 2 SO 4 generated during the electromembrane process is separated from lithium sulfate, and/or sodium sulfate through anolyte concentration by selective crystallization of a sulfate monohydrate.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein said metal sulfate comprises (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum.

21. A process for preparing a metal hydroxide comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum, said process comprising:

reacting a metal sulfate with sodium hydroxide and optionally a chelating agent in order to obtain a solid comprising said metal hydroxide and a liquid comprising sodium sulfate and lithium sulfate, said metal sulfate comprising (i) lithium; (ii) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (iii) at least one metal chosen from manganese and aluminum;

separating said liquid and said solid from one another to obtain said metal hydroxide;

submitting said liquid comprising sodium sulfate and lithium sulfate to an electromembrane process for converting said sodium sulfate and said lithium sulfate into sodium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide; and

reusing said sodium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process for reacting with said metal sulfate.

22. The process of claim 21 , wherein LiOH is substantially selectively crystallized and removed from said electromembrane process by evaporative crystallization.

23. The process of claim 21 , wherein LiOH is separated from NaOH by substantially selectively crystallizing LiOH by evaporative crystallization.

24. The process of claim 21 , wherein said metal sulfate comprises (i) lithium; (ii) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and (iii) at least one metal chosen from manganese and aluminum.

25. A process for preparing a metal oxide comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum, said process comprising:

reacting a metal sulfate with lithium hydroxide and optionally a chelating agent to obtain a solid comprising a metal hydroxide comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum, and a liquid comprising lithium sulfate, said metal sulfate comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum;

separating said liquid and said solid from one another to obtain said metal hydroxide;

submitting said liquid comprising lithium sulfate to an electromembrane process for converting said lithium sulfate into lithium hydroxide; and

reusing at least a first portion of said lithium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process for reacting with said metal sulfate;

reacting at least a second portion of said lithium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process with said obtained metal hydroxide to obtain a mixture of metal hydroxides; and

roasting said mixture of metal hydroxides to obtain said metal oxide.

26. The process of claim 25 , wherein said metal oxide is of formula LiMO 2 , or Li (1+x) M (1−x) O 2 for lithium-rich and Li (1−z) M (1+z) O 2 for Li-deficient, wherein M is at least one metal chosen from nickel, cobalt, manganese, lithium and aluminum, and x and z are each independently between 0 and 1.

27. The process of claim 25 , wherein said metal sulfate comprises (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum.

28. A process for preparing a metal oxide comprising (i) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (ii) at least one metal chosen from manganese, lithium and aluminum, said process comprising:

reacting a metal sulfate with sodium hydroxide and optionally a chelating agent in order to obtain a solid comprising said metal hydroxide and a liquid comprising sodium sulfate and lithium sulfate, said metal sulfate comprising (i) lithium; (ii) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and optionally (iii) at least one metal chosen from manganese and aluminum;

separating said liquid and said solid from one another to obtain said metal hydroxide;

submitting said liquid comprising sodium sulfate and lithium sulfate to an electromembrane process for converting said sodium sulfate and said lithium sulfate into sodium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide;

separating said lithium hydroxide and said sodium hydroxide from one another;

reusing at least a first portion of said sodium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process for reacting with said metal sulfate;

reacting at least a first portion of said lithium hydroxide obtained by said electromembrane process with said obtained metal hydroxide to obtain a mixture of metal hydroxides; and

roasting said mixture of metal hydroxides to obtain said metal oxide.

29. The process of claim 28 , wherein said metal sulfate comprises (i) lithium; (ii) at least one metal chosen from nickel and cobalt and (iii) at least one metal chosen from manganese and aluminum.