Sulfation Roasting Mechanism for Spent Lithium-Ion Battery Metal Oxides Under SO2-O2-Ar Atmosphere

Abstract

Sulfation roasting followed by water leaching has been proposed as an alternative route for recycling valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In the present work, the reaction mechanism of the sulfation roasting of synthetic LiCoO2 was investigated by both thermodynamic calculations and roasting experiments under flowing 10% SO2-1% O2-89% Ar gas atmosphere at 700°C. The products and microstructural evolution processes were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer, and atomic absorption spectroscopy. It was confirmed that Co3O4 was formed as an intermedia product, and the final roasted products were composed by Li2SO4, Li2Co(SO4)2, and CoO. The leaching results indicated that 99.5% Li and 17.4% Co could be recovered into water after 120 min of roasting. The present results will provide the basis and solid guidelines for recycling of Li and Co from spent LIBs.