Method for recycling lithium batteries and/or electrodes of such batteries

1. A method for recycling lithium battery electrodes and/or lithium batteries, the method comprising:

a) grinding a lithium battery electrode, a lithium battery, or both, to yield organic components;

b) dissolving the organic components in an organic solvent, thereby obtaining a first suspension comprising undissolved metals;

c) separating the undissolved metals present in the first suspension, to yield a separated suspension;

d) filtering the separated suspension with a filter press, thereby obtaining a solid mass retained on a first filter and a first filtrate comprising the organic solvent,

e) recovering the solid mass retained on the first filter, and suspending the solid mass in water, thereby obtaining an aqueous suspension comprising sedimented or coagulated materials and carbon-containing material in an aqueous medium;

f) recovering the sedimented or coagulated materials, resuspending the sedimented or coagulated materials in water to form a resulting suspension, and adjusting the pH of the resulting suspension to a pH below 5;

g) filtering the resulting suspension with a filter press, thereby obtaining a second filtrate and a solid fraction retained on a second filter; and

h) separating iron by precipitating at least one iron phosphate, and separating lithium by precipitating a lithium salt.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the pH of the resulting suspension is adjusted to a pH satisfying:

3<pH<4,

such that only the lithium goes into solution in the aqueous medium; and

the separating h) comprises

h1) recovering the second filtrate and precipitating the lithium salt from the second filtrate,

h2) recovering the solid fraction, dissolving the solid fraction in water to form a solid fraction suspension, and adjusting pH of the solid fraction suspension to 2<pH<3 at room temperature, such that Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ ions and the phosphate ions PO 4 3− go into solution and titanium remains in solid form,

h3) filtering the solid fraction suspension and recovering solid titanium retained on a third filter, thereby obtaining a third filtrate comprising the at least one iron phosphate, and

h4) precipitating the at least one iron phosphate contained in the third filtrate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the pH of the resulting suspension is adjusted to pH<1; and

the separating h) comprises

h5) recovering solid titanium retained on the second filter,

h6) recovering the second filtrate and precipitating the at least one iron phosphate,

h7) separating the at least one iron phosphate by filtering the second filtrate, thereby obtaining the at least one iron phosphate retained on a third filter and a third filtrate containing the lithium, and

h8) recovering the third filtrate and precipitating the lithium salt.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the precipitating h4) comprises

h4a) adjusting pH of the third filtrate to a pH equal to 5, to form a precipitate in a third suspension, and

h4b) filtering the third suspension, thereby obtaining a fourth filtrate and the precipitate on a fourth filter, recovering the precipitate, washing the precipitate with water and drying at a temperature less than or equal to 30° C. under vacuum, to obtain iron phosphate of formula Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 .8H 2 O.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the precipitating h4) comprises

h4c) adding 1 vol % of H 2 O 2 to the third filtrate, relative to a total volume of the third filtrate, with H 2 O 2 at 30 vol %, to form a resulting solution, and

h4d) adjusting pH of the resulting solution to a pH equal to 5 to form a precipitate, recovering the precipitate, washing the precipitate and drying at 50° C., in air, to obtain an amorphous iron phosphate FePO 4 .2H 2 O.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the precipitating h4) further comprises, after the adjusting h4d), calcining the amorphous iron phosphate FePO 4 .2H 2 O at 500° C. in air, to obtain a crystalline iron phosphate FePO 4 .2H 2 O.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the recovering h1) comprises

h1a) mixing the second filtrate with an aqueous solution having a pH above 12 and comprising a quantity of phosphate ions (PO 4 3− ) greater than one third of a quantity of lithium ions (Li + ) to form a mixture, and heating the mixture at 50° C., to form a precipitate, and

h1b) washing the precipitate with water, to obtain lithium phosphate Li 3 PO 4 .

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the recovering h1) comprises

h1c) mixing the second filtrate with an aqueous solution having a pH>12 and comprising a quantity of carbonate ions (CO 3 2− ) at least equal to half of a quantity of lithium ions (Li + ) to form a mixture, and

h1d) heating the mixture to a temperature between 90° C. and 100° C. to obtain a heated suspension, and filtering the heated suspension at 100° C., to obtain a dry extract of lithium carbonate Li 2 CO 3 .

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein recovering h1) further comprises

h1e) passing the second filtrate over a cationic ion-exchange resin having a molar ratio of Li + per gram of the cationic ion-exchange resin of between 10 −6 and 10 −2 , to form a resulting resin,

h1f) contacting the resulting resin with an acid solution having a pH<3 such that a liquid/resin volume ratio is <1, to obtain an acid solution suspension, and

h1g) recovering lithium carbonate by filtering the acid solution suspension at 100° C.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

i) purifying the organic solvent contained in the first filtrate by centrifugation until a colorless liquid is obtained,

j) performing evaporation-condensation of the colorless liquid at a temperature less than or equal to 80° C. but greater than or equal to 60° C., to recover a binder solid consisting of electrode binder, and to recover the organic solvent, and

n) optionally recycling the organic solvent to the dissolving b).

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

k) extracting the carbon-containing material by flotation,

l) washing the carbon-containing material with an acidic aqueous solution having a pH<3, and

m) filtering the carbon-containing material.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of dichloromethane, cyclohexane, toluene, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, 2-butanone, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), tetrahydrofuran, N,N-dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, acetone, ethanol, acetonitrile, and a mixture thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

o) sorting the undissolved metals.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the recovering f) the pH of the resulting suspension is adjusted to a pH below 4.

15. The method of claim 3 , wherein the separating h) further comprises

h4a) adjusting a pH of the second filtrate recovered in the recovering h6) to a pH equal to 5, to form a pH-adjusted suspension comprising a precipitate, and

h4b) filtering the pH-adjusted suspension to obtain the third filtrate and the precipitate on the third filter, recovering the precipitate, washing the precipitate with water and drying at a temperature less than or equal to 30° C. under vacuum, to obtain iron phosphate of formula Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 .8H 2 O.

16. The method of claim 2 , wherein the precipitating h4) comprises

h4a) adjusting pH of the third filtrate to a pH equal to 5, to form a pH-adjusted suspension comprising a precipitate, and

h4b) filtering the pH-adjusted suspension to obtain a fourth filtrate and the precipitate on a fourth filter, recovering the precipitate, washing the precipitate with water and drying at a temperature less than or equal to 30° C. under vacuum, to obtain iron phosphate of formula Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 .8H 2 O.

17. The method of claim 3 , wherein the separating h) comprises

h4c) adding 1 vol % of H 2 O to the second filtrate recovered in the recovering h6), relative to a total volume of the second filtrate, with H 2 O 2 at 30 vol %, to form a resulting solution, and

h4d) adjusting pH of the resulting solution to a pH equal to 5 to form a precipitate, recovering the precipitate, washing the precipitate and drying at 50° C., in air, to obtain an amorphous iron phosphate FePO 4 .2H 2 O.

18. The method of claim 3 , wherein the separating h) comprises

h1a) mixing the second filtrate with an aqueous solution having a pH above 12 and comprising a quantity of phosphate ions (PO 4 3− ) greater than one third of a quantity of lithium ions (Li + ) to form a mixture, and heating the mixture at 50° C., to form a precipitate, and

h1b) washing the precipitate with water, to obtain lithium phosphate Li 3 PO 4 .

19. The method of claim 3 , wherein the separating h) comprises

h1c) mixing the second filtrate with an aqueous solution having a pH>12 comprising a quantity of carbonate ions (CO 3 2− ) at least equal to half of a quantity of lithium ions (Li + ) to form a mixture, and

h1d) heating the mixture to a temperature between 90° C. and 100° C. to obtain a heated suspension, and filtering the heated suspension at 100° C., to obtain a dry extract of lithium carbonate Li 2 CO 3 .