Concepts for the Sustainable Hydrometallurgical Processing of End-of-Life Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries with an LFP cell chemistry are experiencing strong growth in the global battery market. Consequently, a process concept has been developed to recycle and recover critical raw materials, particularly graphite and lithium. The developed process concept consists of a thermal pretreatment to remove organic solvents and binders, flotation for anode-cathode separation, and hydrometallurgical processes for product recovery. It has been shown that a pretreatment step is necessary for efficient flotation. By increasing the thermal treatment temperatures up to 450 degrees C, recovery rates of up to 73% are achieved. Similar positive effects are observed with leaching, where leaching efficiencies increase with higher treatment temperatures up to 400 degrees C. The results indicate that the thermal treatment of the black mass significantly influences both flotation and hydrometallurgical processes.