A method for producing an aqueous solution containing nickel, cobalt and manganese, includes: a leaching process including a pressure-leaching process of leaching a raw material under pressure to form a leachate containing nickel, cobalt, manganese and impurities; an impurity removal process of removing the impurities from the leachate; a target substance precipitation process of precipitating a mixed hydroxide precipitate containing nickel, cobalt and manganese by introducing a neutralizing agent into a filtrate from which the impurities are removed; and a dissolution process. The pressure-leaching process includes a first-stage pressure-leaching process and a second-stage pressure-leaching process of pressure-leaching a residue of the first-stage pressure-leaching process with an acidity higher than an acidity in the first-stage pressure-leaching process. The impurity removal process includes a first-stage solvent extraction process of selectively extracting zinc from the impurities and a second-stage solvent extraction process of selectively extracting magnesium from the impurities.

A present disclosure provides a method for removing impurities and recovering a high-concentration lithium aqueous solution from a waste battery material and a waste cathode active materials which can separate valuable metals including nickel and cobalt in a solid state separately and manufacture them into the high-concentration lithium aqueous solution in the process of recovering lithium contained in the waste battery material and the waste cathode active materials

A process is disclosed for the recovery of valuable metals from oxidic ores, in particular from polymetallic nodules. The process is suitable for the recovery of Cu, Co, Ni, Fe, and Mn, which are the main metals of interest in such polymetallic nodules. The present process is, among others, characterized by the handling of Fe, which is dissolved and kept in solution until the step of crystallization rather than removed at an earlier stage. A mixed MnFe residue is obtained, which, after thermal treatment, provides a MnFe oxide that is suitable for the steel or for the manganese industry. Excellent Cu, Co and Ni yields are obtained, while Fe is leached and valorized together with Mn.

In a method of selectively recovering a valuable metal from lithium secondary battery waste, a complex oxide is separated from a lithium secondary battery waste powder. The powder is dissolved in sulfuric acid. The solution is separated into a solution and a residue by solid-liquid separation. The solution is subjected to solid-liquid separation to produce a solution and a solid. Valuable metal manganese is extracted from the solution by solvent extraction, and the remaining valuable metals including cobalt, nickel, and lithium are separated into a first raffinate. Valuable metal cobalt is extracted from the first raffinate by solvent extraction, and the remaining valuable metals are separated into a second raffinate. Valuable metal nickel is extracted from the second raffinate by solvent extraction, and the remaining valuable metal lithium is separated into a third raffinate. Valuable metal lithium is extracted and concentrated from the third raffinate.

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing a black mass to battery chemicals. The method comprises leaching the black mass using sulfuric acid and a reducing agent to produce a first process solution comprising lithium sulfate and at least one of manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate, and impurities, which first process solution is separated from graphite by filtration. Thereafter, the process comprises removing impurities from the first process solution using lithium hydroxide, to produce a second process solution, separating lithium from the second process solution using chromatographic lithium separation producing lithium sulfate and a third process solution and separating at least one of copper, nickel and cobalt from the third process solution by ion exchange producing lithium sulfate. Finally, the process comprises converting the lithium sulfate produced by electrodialysis to lithium and to sulfuric acid to be used in the method.

The present invention relates to a process for recovering one or more metal ions selected from the group consisting of Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese and a mixture thereof from metal-containing residues comprising: A) leaching the residue with a leaching solution comprising lactic acid to obtain a filtrate 1 and a solid cake 1; B) separating the filtrate 1; C) precipitating the Cobalt lactate, Nickel lactate or Manganese lactate from the filtrate 1 to obtain a filtrate 2 and a precipitate 1; and D) separating the precipitate 1; or alternatively, A) leaching the residue with the leaching solution to obtain a filtrate 1 and a solid cake 1; E) precipitating the Cobalt lactate, Nickel lactate or Manganese lactate from the filtrate 1 to obtain a filtrate 3 and a solid cake 2; and F) separating the solid cake 2; and G) separating the Cobalt lactate, Nickel lactate or Manganese lactate from the solid cake 2.

A method for recycling lithium batteries containing the steps: (a) digesting comminuted material (10), which contains comminuted components of electrodes of lithium batteries, using concentrated sulphuric acid (12) at a digestion temperature (T.sub.A) of at least 100 C., in particular at least 140 C., so that waste gas (14) and a digestion material (16) are produced, (b) discharging the waste gas (14) and (c) wet chemical extraction of at least one metallic component of the digestion material (16).

A method for recycling anode materials from a comingled recycling stream derived from exhausted Li ion batteries includes receiving a precipitate quantity remaining from a cathode recycling stream. This precipitate is almost exclusively graphite used for the anode material in the recycled batteries. The precipitate results from an acid leach of charge material from the lithium battery recycling stream. A strong acid is added to the precipitate for removal of residual cathode and separator materials and the mixture heated. The strong acid removes residual aluminum oxide from the separator by transformation to aluminum sulfate. Washing the acid treated precipitate removes water soluble contaminants, such as the aluminum sulfate reacted from the aluminum oxide and sulfuric acid, to generate substantially pure graphite. Any residual material remaining from the cathode recycling phase is also removed.

A method for reducing waste by recovering transition metal of a lithium secondary battery of the present invention includes preparing a cathode active material from a cathode of the lithium secondary battery, producing a first leachate by treating the cathode active material with a first acidic solution containing a reducing agent in an amount smaller than an amount corresponding to a reaction equivalent of the cathode active material, and producing a second leachate by treating the remaining cathode active material, which excludes a fraction contained in the first leachate, with a second acidic solution containing a reducing agent. Accordingly, extraction rate of manganese and purity of cobalt may be improved.

The present invention relates to a process for selectively capturing chemical elements from a polymetallic liquid sample.