Reactor for preparing precursor of lithium composite transition metal oxide and method for preparing precursor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164090-A1
Application number	US-201615040348-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 10, 2016
Priority date	Feb 1, 2012
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a reactor for preparing a precursor of lithium composite transition metal oxide for lithium secondary batteries, the reactor having a closed structure including a stationary hollow cylinder; a rotary cylinder having the same axis as the stationary hollow cylinder and an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the stationary hollow cylinder, an electric motor to generate power, enabling rotation of the rotary cylinder, a rotation reaction area disposed between the stationary hollow cylinder and the rotary cylinder, wherein ring-shaped vortex pairs that are uniformly arranged in a rotation axis direction and rotate in opposite directions are formed in the rotation reaction area, and an inlet through which a reactant fluid is fed into the rotation reaction area and an outlet through which the reactant fluid is discharged from the rotation reaction area.

First claim

1 . A method for preparing transition metal composite hydroxide particles using a reactor having a closed structure, the method comprising:
injecting raw materials comprising an aqueous solution of two or more transition metal salts and an aqueous solution of a complex-forming additive, and a basic aqueous solution for maintaining pH of an aqueous solution of the raw materials within a range of 10 to 12, into the rotation reaction area of the reactor through the inlet; and performing coprecipitation reaction under a non-nitrogen atmosphere for 1 to 6 hours, wherein the reactor comprises: a stationary hollow cylinder; a rotary cylinder having the same axis as the stationary hollow cylinder and an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the stationary hollow cylinder; an electric motor to generate power, enabling rotation of the rotary cylinder; a rotation reaction area disposed between the stationary hollow cylinder and the rotary cylinder, wherein ring-shaped vortex pairs that are uniformly arranged in a rotation axis direction and rotate in opposite directions are formed in the rotation reaction area; and an inlet through which a reactant fluid is fed into the rotation reaction area and an outlet through which the reactant fluid is discharged from the rotation reaction area, wherein a ratio of a distance between the stationary hollow cylinder and the rotary cylinder to the outer radius of the rotary cylinder is higher than 0.05 and lower than 0.4.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a kinematic viscosity of reactant fluid is 0.4 to 400 cP and power consumed per unit weight thereof is 0.05 to 100 W/kg.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a critical Reynolds number of the vortex pairs is 300 or more.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the inlet comprises two or more inlets.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the two or more inlets are arrayed in a line by a predetermined distance in a direction of the outlet.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the aqueous solution of a complex-forming additive is present in an amount of 0.01 to 10% by weight, based on the total amount of the two or more transition metal salts.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the aqueous solution of a complex-forming additive is an aqueous ammonia solution.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal salt is sulfate and/or nitrate.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the sulfate comprises one or two or more selected from the group consisting of nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate and manganese sulfate, and the nitrate comprises one or two or more selected from the group consisting of nickel nitrate, cobalt nitrate and manganese nitrate.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transition metal composite hydroxide is a compound represented by Formula 1 below:
M(OH 1−x ) 2   (1)
wherein M comprises two or more selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Mn, Al, Cu, Fe, Mg, B, Cr and transition metals of the second period; and 0≦x≦0.8.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein M comprises two kinds of transition metals or all selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co and Mn.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Park Byungchun
• Kang Seong Hoon
• Shin Hosuk
• Park Sangmin
• Park Hong Kyu

Classifications

• B01J2219/1943

  cylindrical · CPC title

• B01J19/28 Primary

  Moving reactors, e.g. rotary drums (B01J19/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C01G51/42

  containing alkali metals, e.g. LiCoO2 · CPC title

• C01G45/1221

  Manganates or manganites with trivalent manganese, tetravalent manganese or mixtures thereof · CPC title

• B01J2204/002

  the feeding side being of particular interest · CPC title