Lithium Recovery by Precipitation from Impure Solutions – Lithium Ion Battery Waste

Hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching solutions were investigated with the aim of recovering the lithium present in industrial battery waste. The lithium‐rich solution after HCl leaching of battery waste contains major impurities such as iron, nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and copper. This composition was used as a model system to prepare a synthetic solution for lithium recovery by precipitation. The precipitation results indicated that the feeding rate of carbonate and stirring rate had an effect on particle size distribution. Uniform particles were obtained with a semi‐batch process. A faster carbonate feeding rate can result in a smaller particle size due to the high supersaturation degree and chemical reaction rates. A lithium‐rich solution was obtained from a hydrochloric acid leaching process for real industrial battery waste, which was employed as a model system for preparing a synthetic solution to recover lithium by precipitation. Lithium carbonate was successfully recovered from an impure mimic solution. Narrow and uniform crystals were received from a semi‐batch process.