METHOD OF RECYCLING SPENT LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES Russian patent published in 2022 - IPC C22B23/00 C22B26/12 C22B3/18 C01D15/08 

FIELD: metallurgy.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to non-ferrous metallurgy, namely to recycling of spent lithium chemical current sources in the form of batteries. Processing of used lithium current sources (LCS) includes stages of grinding with production of crushed mass, mechanical screening of metal inclusions of copper and aluminum, removal of metallic iron by magnetic separation. Removal of the organic component, extraction of carbon by flotation into a concentrate, and lithium and cobalt into flotation tailings, obtaining commercial products based on cobalt and lithium from the flotation tailings. At the step of removing the organic component, the crushed mass is treated with solution containing 3–5 g/l of pancreatin for 0.5–1 h. Lithium is leached from the flotation tailings, and lithium carbonate is precipitated from the solution obtained after leaching, wherein the undissolved leaching residue is melted to obtain commercial cobalt.

EFFECT: method simplifies the technology of recycling LCS, increases extraction and purity of cobalt and lithium in commercial products.

1 cl, 3 tbl