Recovery of lithium from the effluent obtained in the process of spent lithium-ion batteries recycling

A novel process of lithium recovery as lithium ion sieve from the effluent obtained in the process of spent lithium-ion batteries recycling is developed. Through a two-stage precipitation process using Na 2 CO 3 and Na 3 PO 4 as precipitants , lithium is recovered as raw Li 2 CO 3 and pure Li 3 PO 4 , respectively. Under the best reaction condition (both the amounts of Na 2 CO 3 and Li 3 PO 4 vs . the theoretical ones are about 1.1), the corresponding recovery rates of lithium (calculated based on the concentration of the previous stage) are 74.72% and 92.21%, respectively. The raw Li 2 CO 3 containing the impurity of Na 2 CO 3 is used to prepare LiMn 2 O 4 as lithium ion sieve, and the tolerant level of sodium on its property is studied through batch tests of adsorption capacity and corrosion resistance . When the weight percentage of Na 2 CO 3 in raw Li 2 CO 3 is controlled less than 10%, the Mn corrosion percentage of LiMn 2 O 4 decreases to 21.07%, and the adsorption capacity can still keep at 40.08 mg g −1 . The results reveal that the conventional separation sodium from lithium may be avoided through the application of the raw Li 2 CO 3 in the field of lithium ion sieve.