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Microwave Processing of Electrode Active Materials for the Recovery of Cobalt, Manganese, and Lithium

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Abstract

The limited lifespan, ever-growing demand, and significant lithium and cobalt content are responsible factors for the immediate recycling of discarded lithium-ion batteries. Discharged batteries were dismantled, segregated, and size reduced to recover cathode and anode material. The active cathode material comprises LiCoO2 (65.8%) and LiMn2O4 (34.2%) and was carbothermal reduced with recovered graphite in a microwave furnace followed by water leaching and magnetic separation. A Box Behnken statistical experimental design is used for process optimization. Both cobalt and manganese report to magnetic fraction, whereas graphite and lithium carbonate report to non-magnetic fraction and solution crystal respectively. The final product comprises of cobalt 73% and manganese of 14% with process yield of ̴ 36% and saturation magnetization of 76 emu/g.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Rahul Kumar Singh for his help during the experimental setup.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial assistance provided by the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (Faculty Initiation Grant-100714).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Extractive Metallurgy Laboratory, Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, IIT-Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India

    Sanjay Pindar & Nikhil Dhawan

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  1. Sanjay Pindar
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  2. Nikhil Dhawan
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Correspondence to Nikhil Dhawan.

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Pindar, S., Dhawan, N. Microwave Processing of Electrode Active Materials for the Recovery of Cobalt, Manganese, and Lithium. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 37, 1285–1295 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00230-9

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