Recovery of electrodic powder from spent nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH)

Abstract

This study was focused on recycling process newly proposed to recover electrodic powder enriched in nickel (Ni) and rare earth elements (La and Ce) from spent nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH). In addition, this new process was designed to prevent explosion of batteries during thermal treatment under inert atmosphere. Spent nickel metal hydride batteries were heated over range of 300°C to 600°C for 2 hours and each component was completely separated inside reactor after experiment. Electrodic powder was successfully recovered from bulk components containing several pieces of metals through sieving operation. The electrodic powder obtained was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and image of the powder was taken by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was finally found that nickel and rare earth elements were mainly recovered to about 45 wt.% and 12 wt.% in electrodic powder, respectively.