Scientists cook up a green recipe for recycling lithium-ion batteries using vegetable oil
To recycle batteries they are firstly shredded to produce a mixed black mass. The new process uses an oil nanoemulsion to float the graphite from the mixture. Credit: University of Leicester
University of Leicester scientists have developed a technique for sustainably extracting valuable metals from a waste product of used batteries with a mix of water and cooking oil.
The patent-pending technology allows lithium-ion battery black mass, a low-value mixture of anode and cathode and other materials, to be purified directly within minutes of operation at room temperature.
With billions of these batteries used worldwide in electronics and electric vehicles, it could enable a cheaper and more sustainable recycling method to support the switch to green technologies.
Research led by Professor Andy Abbott and Dr. Jake Yang at the University of Leicester working under the Faraday Institution’s ReLiB project found an innovative way of recovering valuable battery-grade metal oxides from crushed batteries by using nanoemulsions created from a trace of cooking oil in water. The study is published in the journal RSC Sustainability.
From everyday experience, we know oil and water do not mix unless we add soap, but research has shown that using ultrasound can create nano-droplets of oil that are stable for weeks. Crucially, oil nano-droplets are found to purify battery waste, commonly known as “black mass,” as it contains a mixture of carbon (graphite) and valuable lithium, nickel and cobalt metal oxides (NMC).
The oil nano-droplets stick to the surface of the carbon, acting as a “glue” to bind hydrophobic graphite particles together to form large oil-graphite conglomerates which float on water, leaving the valuable and hydrophilic lithium metal oxides untouched. The oil-graphite conglomerate can simply be skimmed off, leaving pure metal oxides.
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Scientists cook up a green recipe for recycling lithium-ion batteries using vegetable oil, source
