Separation of Co(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Mn(II) from synthetic hydrochloric acid leaching solution of spent lithium ion batteries by solvent extraction

Abstract

Spent lithium ion batteries contain valuable critical metals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel. In order to develop a process for the separation of the divalent metal ions from spent lithium ion batteries, solvent extraction experiments were performed by employing synthetic hydrochloric acid leaching solution. The synthetic solution contained Cu(II), Co(II), Mn(II) and Ni(II) and its acidity was 3 M HCl. Extraction with Aliquat 336 led to selective extraction of Cu(II) with a small amount of Co(II). After adding NaCl to the Cu(II) free raffinate to enhance the complex formation of Co(II), Co(II) was selectively extracted into Aliquat 336 together with Mn(II). The small amount of Mn(II) in the loaded Aliquat 336 was scrubbed by pure Co(II) solution. After adjusting the pH of the raffinate to 3, 91,3% of Mn(II) was selectively extracted over Ni(II) by the mixture of D2EHPA and Alamine 336. In this extraction, the mole fraction of D2EHPA in the mixture affected the extraction of Mn(II). McCabe-Thiele diagrams for the extraction of Cu(II) and Co(II) were constructed. Batch simulation experiments for the three stage counter-current extraction verified the selective extraction of the target metal ions in each extraction step. Namely, the total extraction percentage of Cu(II) and Co(II) was 71.6% and 98.8% respectively. Most metals in the loaded organic phase were stripped completely with the appropriate agents (1.0 M H2SO4 for Cu(II), 0.1 M H2SO4 for Co(II) and 0.3 M HCl for Mn(II) stripping). A process was proposed to separate the metal ions by solvent extraction.