Hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of metal values from spent lithium-ion batteries in citric acid media

In this paper, a hydrometallurgical process has been proposed to recover valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries in citric acid media. Leaching efficiencies as high as 97%, 95%, 94%, and 99% of Ni, Co, Mn, and Li were achieved under the optimal leaching experimental conditions of citric acid concentration of 2 mol L(-1), leaching temperature of 80 °C, leaching time of 90 min, liquid-solid ratio of 30 ml g(-1), and 2 vol. % H2O2. For the metals recovery process, nickel and cobalt were selectively precipitated by dimethylglyoxime reagent and ammonium oxalate sequentially. Then manganese was extracted by Na-D2EHPA and the manganese-loaded D2EHPA was stripped with sulfuric acid. The manganese was recovered as MnSO4 in aqueous phase and D2EHPA could be reused after saponification. Finally, lithium was precipitated by 0.5 mol L(-1) sodium phosphate. Under their optimal conditions, the recovery percentages of Ni, Co, Mn, and Li can reach 98%, 97%, 98%, and 89%, respectively. This is a relatively simple route in which all metal values could be effectively leached and recovered in citric acid media.