Detailed Description
The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the size of layers and regions, as well as the relative sizes, may be exaggerated for the same elements throughout.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The terms "comprises," "comprising," and/or the like, as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, or components.
The recovery technology of the lithium battery mainly comprises a plurality of methods such as a physical method, a chemical method, a biological method and the like, wherein the recovery of the positive electrode material is the key point of research. The existing recovery technology mainly focuses on extracting key metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, aluminum and the like through high-temperature smelting, hydrometallurgy, mechanical crushing and the like. Although these technologies have advanced in recycling efficiency and cost control, a series of challenges such as technical complexity, high energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. are faced. Therefore, the development of the efficient, green and economic lithium battery anode recycling technology is not only important for recycling resources, but also has important significance for realizing sustainable development.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a system and a method for recovering and extracting lithium from waste batteries based on electrochemistry, so as to at least partially solve the problems of high energy consumption and high pollution in the recovery method of related research.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electrochemical-based waste battery recycling lithium extraction system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an electrochemical-based waste battery recycling lithium extraction system, as shown with reference to fig. 1, comprising:
An electrolytic cell 1;
An electrolyte membrane 2 divides the electrolytic tank 1 into a first reaction tank 11 and a second reaction tank 12, wherein the first reaction tank 11 contains an organic electrolyte and holds the anode 3 of the waste lithium battery, the second reaction tank 12 contains a first organic solvent, and the second reaction tank 12 is suitable for introducing nitrogen dioxide gas;
A carbon material current collector 4 is arranged in the second reaction tank 12;
the waste lithium battery anode 3 is subjected to oxidation reaction to release lithium positive ions, the lithium positive ions enter the second reaction tank 12 through the electrolyte membrane 2, nitrogen dioxide gas introduced into the second reaction tank 12 is reduced into nitrite (NO 2 -),NO2 - is oxidized into NO 3 - in the environment, and a recovered product lithium nitrate is obtained in the second reaction tank 12.
In some embodiments, the spent lithium battery positive electrode 3 comprises one or more of a lithium iron phosphate positive electrode, a lithium cobalt oxide positive electrode, and a nickel cobalt manganese ternary positive electrode.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the organic electrolyte comprises an organic lithium salt and a second organic solvent.
In some embodiments, the organolithium salt includes one or more of lithium hexafluorophosphate, lithium perchlorate, lithium tetrafluoroborate, lithium bis (difluoromethyl) sulfonimide, lithium bis (trifluoromethyl) sulfonimide, lithium bis (fluorosulfonyl) imide, lithium dioxalate borate, lithium difluorooxalato borate, and lithium hexafluoroarsenate.
In some embodiments, the second organic solvent comprises one or more of ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, fluoroethylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, methylethyl carbonate, methylpropyl carbonate, and vinylene carbonate.
In some embodiments, the first organic solvent comprises one or more of ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, fluoroethylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, methylethyl carbonate, methylpropyl carbonate, and vinylene carbonate.
In some embodiments, the electrolyte separator 2 is a solid electrolyte, including one or more of an oxide electrolyte or a sulfide electrolyte.
In some embodiments, the oxide electrolyte includes one of a lithium lanthanum zirconium tantalum oxide electrolyte, a germanium aluminum lithium phosphate electrolyte, a titanium aluminum lithium phosphate electrolyte, a lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide electrolyte, a lithium lanthanum titanium oxide electrolyte, and a lithium lanthanum zirconium niobium oxide electrolyte.
In some embodiments, the sulfide electrolyte includes a lithium germanium phosphorus sulfur electrolyte.
In some embodiments, carbon material current collector 4 comprises one or more of a carbon felt, a carbon paper, a carbon cloth, a graphite felt, a graphene film, a graphene mesh, a carbon nanotube film, a carbon nanotube paper, a conductive activated carbon film, a mesoporous carbon film, a conductive graphite plate, and a conductive graphite mesh.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the anode of the waste lithium battery is subjected to oxidation reaction in the organic electrolyte of the first reaction tank to release lithium positive ions, the lithium positive ions enter the second reaction tank through the electrolyte membrane, nitrogen dioxide gas introduced into the second reaction tank is subjected to reduction, and the recovered product lithium nitrate is obtained in the second reaction tank. Electrochemical lithium removal is carried out on the positive electrode of the waste lithium battery, electrochemical reduction is carried out on the nitrogen dioxide gas, and the cooperative recovery of two pollutants of the positive electrode of the waste lithium battery and the nitrogen dioxide gas is realized.
Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a method for recovering and extracting lithium from an electrochemical-based waste battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the invention provides a method for recovering and extracting lithium from waste batteries, which is shown in fig. 2 and comprises operations S01-S03.
In operation S01, the electrolyte membrane 2 is placed in the electrolytic cell 1, the electrolytic cell 1 is partitioned into a first reaction tank 11 and a second reaction tank 12, an organic electrolyte is placed in the first reaction tank 11, and a first organic solvent is placed in the second reaction tank 12.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the method for recycling and extracting lithium from the waste batteries further comprises the step of preparing an organic electrolyte.
In some embodiments, the organolithium salt is dissolved in a second organic solvent to provide an organic electrolyte. The concentration of the organic electrolyte is any value between 0 and 0.1mg/L, for example, 0.01mg/L, 0.05mg/L, 0.08mg/L, 0.1mg/L, preferably 0.1mg/L.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process of mixing the organolithium salt with the second organic solvent to form the organic electrolyte is performed in a glove box under argon atmosphere.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the method for recycling and extracting lithium from the waste batteries further comprises the step of preparing an electrolyte diaphragm. The electrolyte membrane is prepared by stamping electrolyte powder into an electrolyte sheet, and sintering the electrolyte sheet at 800-1000 ℃ for 5-10 hours.
In some embodiments, the lithium aluminum titanium phosphorus electrolyte powder is punched into an electrolyte sheet with the diameter of 14 mm, and then sintered for 5-10 hours at 800-1000 ℃ to obtain the required electrolyte membrane.
In operation S02, the waste lithium battery anode 3 is placed in the first reaction tank 11, and the carbon material current collector 4 is placed in the second reaction tank 12.
And S03, connecting the anode 3 of the waste lithium battery and the carbon material current collector 4 with two ends of an electrochemical workstation respectively, introducing nitrogen dioxide gas into a second reaction tank, so that the anode 3 of the waste lithium battery undergoes oxidation reaction to release lithium positive ions, the lithium positive ions enter the second reaction tank through an electrolyte diaphragm 2, the introduced nitrogen dioxide gas in the second reaction tank 12 undergoes reduction, and a recovered product lithium nitrate is obtained in the second reaction tank 12.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the process of releasing lithium positive ions by the oxidation reaction of the waste lithium battery anode 3 is shown as a formula (1),
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process of reducing nitrogen dioxide gas into nitrite (NO 2 -) is shown as formula (2),
(2)
According to an embodiment of the invention, the energy requirement of the recovery lithium extraction process is-64.6 Wh/kg LEP. The waste lithium battery anode 3 is subjected to oxidation reaction to release lithium positive ions, the oxidation potential of the waste lithium battery anode 3 is E0=0.5V vs. RHE, nitrogen dioxide is reduced into nitrite (NO 2 -), the reduction potential of the waste lithium battery anode is E0=0.88V vs. RHE, and the reduction potential of the waste lithium battery anode is higher than the oxidation potential, so that the recovery lithium extraction system realizes the power generation function while cooperatively recovering two pollutants.
The electrochemical-based waste battery recycling lithium extraction system and method are schematically described below. It should be noted that the examples are only specific embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
Example 1
Preparing organic electrolyte. Specifically, in a glove box filled with argon, an organic electrolyte containing lithium hexafluorophosphate, dimethyl carbonate and ethylene glycol dimethyl ether is prepared, wherein the concentration of the lithium hexafluorophosphate is 1mol/L, and the volume ratio of the solvent dimethyl carbonate to the ethylene glycol dimethyl ether is 50:50. And fully and uniformly stirring the prepared electrolyte to obtain the required organic electrolyte.
An electrolyte separator was prepared. Specifically, 1g of lithium aluminum titanium phosphorus electrolyte powder was punched into an electrolyte sheet having a diameter of 14 mm. The electrolyte sheet was transferred to a muffle furnace and sintered at 850 ℃ for 10 hours to obtain the desired electrolyte separator.
An electrochemical-based waste battery recycling and lithium extraction process.
Specifically, referring to fig. 1, in a glove box filled with argon gas, an electrolyte membrane 2 is placed in an electrolytic cell 1, dividing the electrolytic cell 1 into a first reaction tank 11 and a second reaction tank 12. An organic electrolyte is placed in the first reaction tank 11, and an organic solution of ethylene carbonate is placed in the second reaction tank 12. The waste lithium battery positive electrode lithium iron phosphate is placed in the first reaction tank 11, the carbon material current collector 4 (conductive graphite plate) is placed in the second reaction tank 12, and then the electrolytic tank 1 is transferred to the outside of the glove box.
And respectively connecting the waste lithium battery anode 3 and the carbon material current collector 4 to two ends of the electrochemical workstation 5. And introducing nitrogen dioxide gas (active material) into the second reaction tank, recovering the recovered product in the second electrolytic tank after the reaction, and performing performance test on the recovered product.
Fig. 3 is an XRD test pattern of the recovered product provided in example 1 of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 3, XRD test results of the recovered product obtained by the electrochemical-based waste battery recovery and lithium extraction process of the present invention show that the recovered product obtained is lithium nitrate.
Fig. 4 is a graph showing the recovery performance test result of the recovery lithium extraction system for waste batteries provided in example 1 of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 4, the recovery rate of the waste battery lithium iron phosphate was 96.23%. This shows that the waste battery recovery lithium extraction system of the invention realizes higher recovery rate.
Example 2
The spent battery was recovered using the same process as the electrochemical-based spent battery recovery lithium extraction process of example 1. The difference is that the waste battery is a cobalt lithium oxide anode.
Fig. 5 is a graph showing the recovery performance test result of the recovery lithium extraction system for waste batteries provided in example 2 of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 5, the recovery rate of the spent battery lithium cobalt oxide was 36%.
Example 3
The spent battery was recovered using the same process as the electrochemical-based spent battery recovery lithium extraction process of example 1. The difference is that the waste battery is a nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary positive electrode.
Fig. 6 is a graph showing the recovery performance test result of the recovery lithium extraction system for waste batteries provided in example 3 of the present invention.
Referring to fig. 6, the recovery rate of the nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary positive electrode of the waste battery is 58%.
The use of ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," "third," etc., in the description and the claims to modify a corresponding element does not by itself connote any ordinal number of elements or the order of manufacturing or use of the ordinal numbers in a particular claim, merely for enabling an element having a particular name to be clearly distinguished from another element having the same name.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, and is not meant to limit the invention thereto, but to limit the invention thereto, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and equivalents thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention.