Method for separating individual cathode-active materials from li-ion batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022045374-A1
Application number	US-202016985028-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 4, 2020
Priority date	Aug 4, 2020
Publication date	Feb 10, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Method of separating individual cathode active materials from a mixture of cathode active materials by froth flotation has been developed. They are based on using appropriate chemical reagents that selectively hydrophobize individual cathode active materials to be recovered, so that they can be collected by air bubbles used in flotation and separated from other mixtures. The chemical reagents are amphiphilic molecules with specialized head groups have a strong affinity to metal elements on surfaces of cathode materials. This method enables a separation of individual cathode active material from a mixture of cathode active materials.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of processing lithium-ion batteries comprising:
forming a cathode composite slurry comprising a liquid and 1-20 wt % of two or more cathode materials; modifying at least one of the two or more cathode materials to be hydrophobic; adding a frother chemical to the cathode composite slurry; aerating the cathode composite slurry, forming a froth and a tailing; separating the froth; and drying the froth to collect a first cathode material of the two or more cathode materials.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode composite slurry has a pH of 7-12.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying at least one of the two or more cathode materials comprises interaction of the at least one of the two or more cathode materials with a collector chemical.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the collector chemical is a chelating agent.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the chelating agent is selected from the group consisting of N—O, O—O, S—N, S—S, and N—N.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein aerating comprises forming air bubbles with diameters less than 1 mm.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein aerating comprises bubbling inert gas or air at a rate of 1-5 liters per minute per 1 liter of cathode composite slurry for 5 to 20 minutes.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the frother comprises methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) or polyglycol (PPG).

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
drying the tailing to form tailing solids comprising one or more cathode materials;
forming a second cathode composite slurry comprising a liquid and 1-20 wt % of the one or more cathode materials;
modifying at least one of the one or more cathode materials to be hydrophobic;
adding a second frother chemical to the cathode composite slurry;
aerating the second cathode composite slurry, forming a second froth and a second tailing;
separating the second froth from the second tailing;
drying the second froth to collect a second cathode material of the two or more cathode materials.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein modifying at least one of the one or more cathode materials comprises interaction of the at least one of the one or more cathode materials with a second collector chemical.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the second collector chemical is different from the collector chemical.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein second collector chemical is a chelating agent selected from the group consisting of N—O, O—O, S—N, S—S, and N—N.

13 . A method of processing lithium-ion batteries comprising:
preparing cathode material powder from a lithium-ion battery by:
draining liquid components of the lithium-ion battery;
physically separating components of the lithium-ion battery forming a mixture of anode and cathode powders; and
separating the anode powder from the cathode powder, forming the cathode powder material;
collecting a cathode material by: mixing the cathode powder with a liquid to form a slurrying having 1-20 wt % solid; modifying at least one of the one or more cathode active materials to be hydrophobic; adding a frothing agent to the slurry; aerating the slurry for 5 to 20 minutes, forming a froth; collecting the froth; and concentrating the least one of the one or more cathode active materials to be hydrophobic from the forth.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the cathode composite slurry has a pH of 7-12.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein modifying at least one of the two or more cathode materials comprises interaction of the at least one of the two or more cathode materials with a collector chemical.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the collector chemical is a chelating agent.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the chelating agent is selected from the group consisting of N—O, O—O, S—N, S—S, and N—N.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein aerating comprises forming air bubbles with diameters less than 1 mm.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein aerating comprises bubbling inert gas or air at a rate of 1-5 liters per minute per 1 liter of cathode composite slurry for 5 to 20 minutes.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the frother comprises methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) or polyglycol (PPG).

Assignees

• Uchicago Argonne Llc

Inventors

• Pan Lei
• Folayan Tinuade Ololade
• Spangenberger Jeffrey S
• Polzin Bryant J

Classifications

• Y02W30/84

  Recycling of batteries or fuel cells · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H01M10/54 Primary

  Reclaiming serviceable parts of waste accumulators · CPC title

• H01M2004/028

  Positive electrodes · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title