American Hyperform, Inc.

Other

William Novis Smith

Scott D Swoffer

Ann Marie Smith

A flotation method for separating cathode material from anode and other carbon materials is described. The cathode material may be that including lithium, nickel, and cobalt or that including lithium iron phosphate. The starting material for the flotation process is conventional black mass as recovered from fractured lithium-ion batteries and lithium-ion battery production scrap. The fractured lithium-ion batteries may originate from spent batteries including used batteries and/or out of specification new production batteries. A very fine mesh screening preferably is used to remove interfering binder from the black mass powder prior to froth flotation, preferably in combination with a hydrophilic depressant to enhance separation of the cathode material from the anode and other carbon materials present in the black mass. The separated cathode and anode materials recovered from the method may be used directly or augmented with additional lithium to form new LIB cathodes, anodes, and batteries.

Flotation method for recovering lithium-ion battery cathode material from recycled lithium-ion batteries and scrap

Razor extension handle

A more efficient and lower cost method for producing electrochemically stable, and thus safe from thermal runaway, high electrochemical capacity coated lithium nickelate is disclosed. The coated nickelate hydroxide particles are formed from a mixed metal sulfate solution (MMS) serving as the starting material that is obtained from recycled lithium ion and/or nickel metal hydride batteries. The coating of the particles includes a relatively small amount of cobalt/manganese oxide forming the surface of the nickelate particles, while the core of the particles includes a relatively large amount of nickel in relation to the weight of the coating. Battery cathode electrodes may be manufactured by using the obtained coated lithium nickelate particles as the cathode active material (CAM) in forming the battery cathodes.

Method of recovering high nickel content cathode material from recycled lithium ion and nickel metal hydride batteries

A hydrometallurgical process is described that can isolate and recover NIMH battery constituents in high-value form: the nickel and cobalt hydroxides (cathode) as nickel and cobalt hydroxides; elemental nickel and cobalt (metallic anode) as nickel and cobalt hydroxides; rare earth metals (metallic anode) as oxides of rare earth metals, conductive carbon (electrodes) as conductive carbon, and the magnetic nickel-plated steel grids (electrodes) and battery cases in a relatively clean and directly smeltable form. The isolation portion of the process isolates the rare earth metals in oxide form from the nickel hydroxide and the cobalt hydroxide. If present, titanium, aluminum, and yttrium are isolated as oxides with the rare earth metal oxides.

Recycling process for isolating and recovering rare earth metals and nickel hydroxide from nickel metal hydride batteries

A process for recovering a nickel cobalt manganese hydroxide from recycled lithium-ion battery (LIB) material such as black mass, black powder, filter cake, or the like. The recycled LIB material is mixed with water and either sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid at a pH less than 2. Cobalt, nickel, and manganese oxides from the recycled lithium-ion battery material dissolve into the acidic water with the reductive assistance of gaseous sulfur dioxide. Anode carbon is filtered from the acidic water, leaving the dissolved cobalt, nickel, and manganese oxides in a filtrate. The filtrate is mixed with aqueous sodium hydroxide at a pH greater than 8. Nickel cobalt manganese hydroxide precipitates from the filtrate. The nickel cobalt manganese hydroxide is filtered from the filtrate and dried. The filtrate may be treated ammonium fluoride or ammonium bifluoride to precipitate lithium fluoride from the filtrate. The composition ratio of nickel to cobalt to manganese in the acid filtrate may be adjusted to a desired ratio. The anode carbon is recovered and purified for reuse.

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Philadelphia, PA, United States of America

William Novis Smith