Efficient lithium recycling from waste aluminum electrolytes through an environmentally friendly process

Low-cost and efficient recycling methods are crucial for recovering strategic elements from lithium-containing waste electrolytes (LiWE), which are essential for energy storage and environmental protection. This study aims to develop a method for recovering lithium from LiWE through one-step calcination of CaCl 2 . Compared with the traditional high-temperature acidification roasting process, this low-temperature calcification only involves one-step roasting and low-temperature pure water leaching, which avoids the introduction of hazardous reagents such as acid/alkali. The thermodynamic analysis results indicate that the transition temperature of LiF during the calcification roasting process is higher than that of Na 3 AlF 6 . 550 ℃, 2.5 (Ca/Li ratio) and 1.0 h have been proven to be the most suitable roasting conditions. Meanwhile, 75 ℃, 7 mL/g (L/S) and 1.0 h are expected to be the most preferred leaching processes. The recovery rate of lithium exceeds 98 % and maintains a high purity (>99.0 %) of Li 2 CO 3 . The economic benefits of this process have been comprehensively evaluated, with a profit of 2.65 $/kg. Finally, the regenerated LCO prepared from recycled Li 2 CO 3 has been proven to have good electrochemical performance compared to commercial LCO with a capacity exceeding 151 mAh g-1 at 1C, demonstrating the feasibility of energy storage applications. In summary, the low-temperature calcification roasting method has been proven feasible for extracting lithium from LiWE.