Minimized carbon emissions to recycle lithium from spent ternary lithium-ion batteries via sulfation roasting

•Achieve lithium extraction at 300℃ with ultra-low energy consumption.•Process mechanisms enable lithium extraction, pollution reduction, and carbon minimization.•The multidimensional evaluation confirms this work is promising for industry applicability. Lithium recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is continuously playing a critical role in the sustainability of Li resources. However, due to the harsh and tedious processes of Li conversion, conventional Li recovery technologies are plagued by excessive carbon emissions from the use of high temperature and the large amount of additional chemical agents. Herein, we proposed a novel Na2S2O8-tuned roasting strategy for Li recovery with > 95 % Li recovery rate at 300 °C. The total carbon emission is only 0.44 times of the traditional high-temperature roasting. The low carbon emission is attributed to the high reactivity of Na2S2O8, which lowers the Li conversion barriers. We further constructed cost models to evaluate the carbon emissions and energy consumption. The success of the low-temperature roasting process guides the reduction of carbon emissions during Li extraction and provides the potential for large-scale application of efficient green recovery. [Display omitted]