The present invention relates to a process for recycling battery materials, in particular lithium ion/polymer batteries, and to the subsequent use of the useful materials recovered by way of the process according to the invention.

The method for recovering lithium hydroxide from a lithium secondary battery allows a powder comprising lithium and valuable metals to be prepared from the lithium secondary battery. The powder is reduced to form a preliminary precursor mixture including a preliminary lithium precursor and valuable metal-containing particles. The preliminary precursor mixture is primarily washed with water (H.sub.2O) to generate a lithium precursor aqueous solution and a precipitate. The lithium precursor is recovered through solid-liquid separation of the lithium precursor aqueous solution and the precipitate. The lithium precursor is recovered, through additional washing and solid-liquid separation, from the precipitate obtained through the solid-liquid separation. A calcium compound is added in the primary washing operation or the additional washing operation. Therefore, a highly-pure lithium precursor can be obtained without a complex leaching process and additional processes resulting from a wet process of an acid solution.

The invention relates to a method and a recovery system for obtaining/recovering metallic iron and/or iron compounds, in particular iron chloride, from ores and/or ore tailings, especially from pyrite tailings, preferably from roasted pyrites produced during sulphuric acid manufacture.

A method for separating zirconium oxide/hafnium oxide by pyrometallurgy. The mixture of zirconium oxide/hafnium oxide, carbon and pure bromine react one hour at 650? C., then added to molten salt mixture for rectifying separation, and then maintained two hours at rectifying tower bottom below 357? C., to get the non-target substance; and then maintained five hours at 357? C. to collect the target substance zirconium tetrabromide; the residue in the reactor is retained, then rectification separation is performed in the same device, heated to 400? C. to retain more than five hours, to get hafnium tetrabromide, then the zirconium tetrabromide and hafnium tetrabromide are substituted by magnesium to get the pure zirconium and pure hafnium.

Provided are a method and molten salt system for recovering rare earth elements from NdFeB waste and use of ferric oxide as a raw material of a manganese-zinc ferrite. The molten salt system comprising the following components in percentage by weight: 40% of K.sub.3AlF.sub.6 or Na.sub.3AlF.sub.6, 40% of KBe.sub.2F.sub.5, and 20% of KAlF.sub.4. By adopting the three-component molten salt system of the present invention, recovery rates of rare earth elements extracted from NdFeB waste all can reach 98% or above. By adopting the three-component molten salt system, extraction temperature is 100-400? C. lower than that of all current similar halogenation methods, and extraction time is fold shorted to 1-3 h. The reduction of the extraction temperature and the shortening of the melting time greatly reduce the energy consumption of extracting rare earth elements from NdFeB waste, and the economic benefits are remarkable.

Lithium-containing electrochemical energy storage devices a recycled by the following steps: i) The electrochemical energy storage devices are initially comminuted and a fraction comprising an active material is separated from the comminuted material. The fraction includes carbon (C), lithium (Li) and at least one of cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), or iron (Fe). ii) The fraction comprising active material is subsequently fed to a melt-down unit and is melted down in the presence of slag-forming agents so that a molten slag phase and a molten metal phase are formed, iii) Then, the lithium (Li) contained in the molten slag phase and/or molten metal phase is converted into a gas phase by the addition of a fluorinating agent and the carbon (C) is converted into a gas phase by the addition of an oxygen-containing gas, and the lithium and carbon are withdrawn from the process as discharge gas.

The present invention relates to a process for the concentration of lithium in metallurgical fumes wherein a metallurgical charge is smelted, thus obtaining a molten bath comprising a slag phase and optionally an alloy phase and fuming the lithium from the molten slag, by addition of a halogen intermediate, wherein said halogen intermediate is a gaseous halogen or gaseous halogen compound.

The present invention relates to a process for the concentration of lithium in metallurgical fumes wherein a metallurgical charge is smelted, thus obtaining a molten bath comprising a slag phase and optionally an alloy phase and fuming the lithium from the molten slag, by addition of a halogen intermediate, wherein the halogen intermediate is produced from the Li halide fumed from the molten slag. The halide is thus efficiently re-used in the process, while the lithium is recovered and isolated.

The cost of precious metals, such as gold, makes recovery or recycling of these materials economically viable and desirable. Disclosed herein is a method of recovering gold from waste sources thereof, in particular waste electrical goods. Also disclosed herein is an apparatus for recovering gold from said waste sources. In particular, disclosed herein is a method and apparatus in which gold leaching chlorine gas is generated externally to a reactor vessel and subsequently pumped into the reactor vessel comprising the waste gold materials.

The present invention provides a method for recycling waste cemented carbide by molten salt chemistry, comprising the steps of: (1) carrying out vacuum dehydration on a molten salt media; (2) carrying out oxidation-dissolution reaction on waste cemented carbide in the molten salt media; (3) carrying out deoxidation treatment on a molten salt system; (4) carrying out thermal reduction reaction on the molten salt system; and (5) washing filtering and vacuum drying obtained mixture by thermal reduction reaction to carry out separation and collection of the molten salt media and waste cemented carbide nano powder. Compared with existing method for recycling waste cemented carbide, the invention has the advantages of short flow, simple equipment, low energy consumption, and excellent recycled products. Moreover, the invention doesn't produce solid/gas/liquid harmful substances to pollute the environment, and can create enormous economic and social benefits.