Cathode material from exhausted lithium ion batteries are dissolved in a solution for extracting the useful elements Co (cobalt), Ni (nickel), Al (Aluminum) and Mn (manganese) to produce active cathode materials for new batteries. The solution includes compounds of desirable materials such as cobalt, nickel, aluminum and manganese dissolved as compounds from the exhausted cathode material of spent cells. Depending on a desired proportion, or ratio, of the desired materials, raw materials are added to the solution to achieve the desired ratio of the commingled compounds for the recycled cathode material for new cells. The desired materials precipitate out of solution without extensive heating or separation of the desired materials into individual compounds or elements. The resulting active cathode material has the predetermined ratio for use in new cells, and avoids high heat typically required to separate the useful elements because the desired materials remain commingled in solution.

An alloy treatment method is provided, in which a solution containing nickel and/or cobalt is obtained from an alloy containing nickel and/or cobalt and also containing copper and zinc, the method comprising: a leaching step for subjecting the alloy to a leaching treatment with an acid under the condition where a sulfating agent is present to produce a leachate; a reduction step for subjecting the leachate to a reduction treatment using a reducing agent to produce a reduced solution; an oxidation/neutralization step for adding an oxidizing agent and a neutralizing agent to the reduced solution to produce a neutralized solution containing nickel and/or cobalt and also containing zinc; and a solvent extraction step for subjecting the neutralized solution to a solvent extraction procedure using an acidic phosphorus compound-based extractant to produce a solution containing nickel and/or cobalt.

The present invention comprises a method of shredding treated medical waste, cleaning it of all traces of biological gunk, and sorting it into separate components for recycling. To clean biological gunk from materials, all materials must be first shredded into small parts to expose the interior. The cleaning is performed by submerging the gunk coated materials into a caustic solution that breaks down and dissolves the gunk off of the materials. The caustic solution may comprise sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or a similar chemical, which is highly effective in producing a corrosive chemical that can break down blood, bone marrow, urine, unused medication, food waste, organs, tissues and any other biologic materials. After all of the biological material is removed from the cleaned materials, they are sorted into component materials, such as plastics, metals, rubbers, glass, etc.

The invention relates to a method for recovering lithium from lithium-sulfur accumulators, wherein the accumulators are discharged, shredded, and pre-cleaned by sieves or screens to separate housing and electricity collector parts, the remaining material is dispersed in an aqueous medium, the insoluble components are removed by filtration and the electrolyte by phase separation, followed by a method for separating the lithium from the remaining filtrate.

A method for reducing molten raw materials, includes placing the raw materials, in a solid or molten state, on an inductively heated bed with coke pieces. The reduced melt that runs off the coke bed is collected and the waste gases are discharged. A coke bed is inwardly limited by a tube-shaped element through which the reaction gases are drawn off via a plurality of draw-off openings in the tube-shaped element. The corresponding device has a reactor for a bed with coke pieces and an induction heater with at least one induction coil. The reactor has a loading opening and a discharge opening for the treated melt. The coke bed is ring-shaped around a tube-shaped element. The material of the tube-shaped element allows inductive coupling to the induction field of the induction coil and it has draw-off openings for drawing off reaction gases from the coke bed.

An exemplary furnace system for melting stock metal includes a main hearth and a side well subsystem, which includes a melting well disposed downstream of the main hearth for receiving flow from the main hearth, an input flow inducer disposed upstream of the melting well and downstream of the main hearth, and an output flow inducer disposed downstream of the melting well and upstream of the main hearth. The input flow inducer drives molten metal into the melting well, thereby forming a differential metal head in the melting well. The output flow inducer evacuates molten metal from an output conduit, thereby reducing counter-pressure at an output port of the melting well communicating with the output conduit. This allows atmospheric pressure to add to the differential metal head in the melting well, resulting in an increase in productivity of the side well subsystem and of the furnace system as a whole.

Provided is a method for recycling a lead oxide-containing waste material, comprising: (1) contacting the lead oxide-containing waste material with a desulphurizer under desulphurization reaction conditions, and performing a solid-liquid separation on the mixture after contacting to obtain a filtrate and a filtration residue; (2) performing a conversion reaction on the above-mentioned filtration residue at a temperature of 350-750° C. so as to convert the lead-containing components in the filtration residue into lead oxide; (3) contacting the product obtained from step (2) with an alkaline solution so as to dissolve the PbO therein, and then performing a solid-liquid separation to obtain a PbO-alkaline solution; and (4) crystallizing the PbO-alkaline solution from step (3) to obtain PbO crystals and an alkaline filtrate. The method can reduce the energy consumption.

A method of facilitating wet recovery of high density material from input wet incinerator bottom ash is disclosed. The method involves receiving the input wet incinerator bottom ash at a first density separator, separating by density from the input wet incinerator bottom ash, by the first density separator, first high density wet incinerator bottom ash and first low density wet incinerator bottom ash, causing the first low density wet incinerator bottom ash to flow to a second density separator, and separating by density from the first low density wet incinerator bottom ash, by the second density separator, second high density wet incinerator bottom ash and second low density incinerator bottom ash. Systems and apparatuses are also disclosed.

Provided is a method for recycling indium from a panel on which an electrode layer made of indium tin oxide (ITO) is formed, comprising: S1 —removing each of pattern layers on the panel to obtain particles formed by the pattern layers; S2 —adding an acid solution to the particles so as to dissolve the substances which can be dissolved in the acid solution, and then filtering to give a solution containing indium ion; S3 —adding an alkaline solution to the solution obtained in step S2, so that metal ions other than indium ion can form precipitates with hydroxyl ion; S4 —filtering off the precipitates formed in step S3; and S5 —evaporating the solution obtained in step S4 to obtain crystals of indium salt. The method improves the reusing rate of the defective panels, is helpful to environment protection, and saves resources.

A method is provided for recycling lithium-ion batteries containing plastics, electrolyte, carbon, metals, and lithium. The method includes: Lithium-ion batteries are ground to form ground battery material which is then pyrolyzed at a temperature between about 100° C. and 700° C. for a time sufficient to vaporize about 80 wt % to 100 wt % of electrolytes present in the ground battery material. The resulting material is further ground and screen classified to produce a screen oversize and a screen undersize. The screen oversize comprises metals and plastics, while the screen undersize comprises a black mass material. Lithium dissolution, triboelectric charging and electrostatic separation of the black mass material (not necessarily in that order) produces a liquid comprising dissolved lithium, a graphite product, and a concentrated metal fines product. Lithium is precipitated from the liquid comprising dissolved lithium, and the concentrated metal fines can be further treated by hydrometallurgy or pyrometallurgy processes.