Comprehensive recovery process of impurities removal and valuable metals co-extraction from simulated leaching solution of spent LIBs with CA12-TBP system

[Display omitted] •Co-extraction Fe, Cu and Al with 30 vol% CA12 and 20 vol% TBP.•Co-extraction Ni, Co and Mn with 30 vol% CA12 and 15 vol% TBP.•The loss of Li was only 0.52%.•Comprehensive recovery process for the simulated leaching solution of spent LIBs. Effective recycling of valuable metals from the spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is of great importance from the perspective of resource recycling and environmental conservation. In this work, a comprehensive recovery process of impurities removal and valuable metals co-extraction from simulated leaching solution of spent LIBs with CA12-TBP system was investigated. Firstly, more than 99.7% of Al, Fe and Cu were removed by co-extraction with 30 vol% CA12 (25% saponification degree) and 20 vol% TBP after three-stage extraction. The Ni, Co and Mn lost in the organic phase were decreased to 0.18%, 0.09% and 0.06% by single-stage scrubbing. Then, Fe, Cu and Al loaded in organic phase were completely stripped by 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 and 0.01 mol/L Na2SO3 through a four-stage stripping. After impurities removal, more than 99.9% of Ni, Co and Mn in the raffinate solution were selectively co-extracted with 30 vol% CA12 (60% saponification degree) and 15 vol% TBP after a three-stage extraction, and 7.88% of Li was co-extracted. Then, after a four-stage scrubbing experiment, only 0.52% of Li was lost in the loaded organic phase, which demonstrated that our system possesses the potential of efficient recovery of Ni, Co and Mn from the spent LIBs. Further, Ni, Co and Mn loaded in the organic were completely stripped with 1 mol/L sulfuric acid, and could be directly used for the preparation of the recycled ternary material precursors. Finally, Li in the raffinate solution was recovered by precipitation using Na2CO3, with the yield and purity of 96.4% and 99.6%. Overall, this recycling process with high impurity removal efficiency and valuable metals recovery efficiency not only simplify the production process, but also greatly reduces production costs, which is helpful for the regeneration and utilization of spent LIBs.