Waste lithium-ion battery recycling in JX nippon mining & metals corporation

Abstract

The JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation engages in copper mining, copper smelting and refining, electronic-materials production and used material recycling. The characteristic of its recycling business is applying “Zero-Emission Policy” without landfill, with operating a unique metal recovering system consists of pyro- and hydro-metallurgical processes, and with employing efficient scrap treatment system utilized from its copper smelting technology. In 2010, we constructed a pilot plant for recovering valuable metals from waste lithium-ion batteries and its cathode materials. The process consists of leaching, solvent extraction and electro-winning to recover electrolytic cobalt and electrolytic nickel as main products, and lithium and manganese carbonate as byproducts. We have changed its mind to processing mainly the waste batteries because of the difficulty of collecting waste cathode materials. This paper describes the technical changes and development, and also shows the recent operating conditions of the plant.