Method for recovering active metals from lithium secondary battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021115532-A1
Application number	US-201917046417-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 9, 2019
Priority date	Apr 9, 2018
Publication date	Apr 22, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for recovering an active metal of a lithium secondary battery according to an embodiment of the present application whereby a cathode active material mixture obtained from a used cathode of a lithium secondary battery is prepared, and the cathode active material mixture is reacted in a fluidized bed reactor to form a preliminary precursor mixture. A lithium precursor is recovered from the preliminary precursor mixture. Yield and selectivity of a lithium precursor can be improved using the fluidized bed reactor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method of recovering an active metal from a lithium secondary battery, the method comprising:
preparing a cathode active material mixture obtained from a used cathode of a lithium secondary battery; reacting the cathode active material mixture in a fluidized bed reactor to form a preliminary precursor mixture; and selectively recovering a lithium precursor from the preliminary precursor mixture.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the preliminary precursor mixture comprises preliminary lithium precursor particles and transition metal-containing particles.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the preliminary lithium precursor particles comprise at least one of lithium hydroxide, lithium oxide or lithium carbonate.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the transition metal-containing particles comprise nickel, cobalt, manganese or an oxide thereof.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein forming the preliminary precursor mixture comprises injecting a reductive reaction gas into the fluidized bed reactor.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the reductive reaction gas comprises hydrogen.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein an injection flow rate of the reductive reaction gas is greater than or equal to a bubble-formation fluidizing rate.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the injection flow rate of the reductive reaction gas is 10 cm/s or more.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the injection flow rate of the reductive reaction gas is less than or equal to a terminal velocity of the cathode active material mixture.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the fluidized bed reactor comprises a reactor body and an upper portion of a reactor, the upper portion having a cross-section or a width greater than that of the reactor body; and
the cathode active material mixture or the preliminary precursor mixture rising to the upper portion of the reactor descends into the reactor body as a flow rate decreases.

11 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising collecting the preliminary lithium precursor particles and the transition metal-containing particles commonly from the reactor body of the fluidized bed reactor.

12 . The method of claim 5 , wherein forming the preliminary precursor mixture further comprises injecting a carrier gas mixed with the reductive reaction gas from a lower portion of the fluidized bed reactor.

13 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the recovering the lithium precursor comprises washing the preliminary lithium precursor particles with water.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the lithium precursor in a form of lithium hydroxide is obtained by washing with water.

15 . The method of claim 2 , wherein recovering the lithium precursor comprises reacting the preliminary lithium precursor particles selectively with a carbon-containing gas.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the carbon-containing gas comprises at least one of CO or CO 2 , and the lithium precursor comprises lithium carbonate.

17 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising recovering a transition metal precursor in a form of an acid salt by selectively treating the transition metal-containing particles with an acidic solution.

Assignees

• Sk Innovation Co Ltd

Inventors

• La Yeon Hwa
• Cho Kwang Kuk
• Koo Min Su
• Ryu Ja Young
• Son Sung Real

Classifications

• Y02P10/20

  Recycling · CPC title

• C01P2002/72

  by d-values or two theta-values, e.g. as X-ray diagram · CPC title

• C01G53/10

  Sulfates · CPC title

• C01G53/04

  Oxides · CPC title

• C01G51/10

  Sulfates · CPC title