The present disclosure relates to methods by which lead from spent lead-acid batteries may be extracted, purified, and used in the construction of new lead-acid batteries. A method includes: (A) forming a mixture including a carboxylate source and a lead-bearing material; (B) generating a first lead salt precipitate in the mixture as the carboxylate source reacts with the lead-bearing material; (C) increasing the pH of the mixture to dissolve the first lead salt precipitate; (D) isolating a liquid component of the mixture from one or more insoluble components of the mixture; (E) decreasing the pH of the liquid component of the mixture to generate a second lead salt precipitate; and (F) isolating the second lead salt precipitate from the liquid component of the mixture. Thereafter, the isolated lead salt precipitate may be converted to leady oxide for use in the manufacture of new lead-acid batteries.

Methods for synthesizing and using metal oxide nanomaterials are provided. The methods include heating a solution including large inverse micelles of a metal chelate in a solvent to a temperature greater than the solvent boiling point to form a dried product and calcining the dried product to form the metal oxide nanomaterial.

The present invention provides an abrasive comprising α-alumina particles having a polyhedral crystal structure, wherein the α-alumina particles have an average diameter (D50) of 300 nm to 10 μm and a bulk density of 0.2-0.5 g/mL, a [0001] face in the crystal structure of the α-alumina particles occupies 10-20% on the basis of the total crystal face area, and the amount of α-alumina particles is 85-100 wt % on the basis of the total weight. The abrasive of the present invention comprises α-alumina particles satisfying predetermined particle size and density ranges while having a polyhedral crystal structure, and thus provides excellent dispersibility in a polishing slurry to enable a polishing rate to increase, while minimizing scratch formation during polishing.

A method uses mild fluorinating agents, such as hydrofluorocarbons—HCFs, perfluorocarbons—PFCs, hydrochlorofluorocarbons HCFCs and chlorofluorocarbons—CFCs, to fine-tune the fluorination process in battery material preparation in order to obtain uniform nanometer-sized surface fluoride coated battery materials. The use of a vertical flow-type tube reactor permits a fine-tuning of the fluorination process by accurately regulating the active gas or mixture of gases flow over battery materials using mass-flow regulators, and precisely setting the temperature with vertical rube furnace. Additionally, these fluorinating agents have slightly different reactivity, decomposing and reacting with battery materials at different temperatures, and therefore, offering additional parameter of fluorination fine-tuning. The method is scalable and can be easily adapted as an industrial solution. Moreover, all these gases are non-toxic, non-corrosive and non-flammable gases at room temperatures, hence, they are more convenient to handle than highly-toxic and highly-corrosive HF and F.sub.2 gases.

A catalyst comprising molybdenum, bismuth, iron, and nickel, wherein a proportion of a surface concentration of the nickel to a bulk concentration of the nickel is 0.60 to 1.20.

A facile solvothermal method can be used to synthesize metal alkanoate nanoparticles using a metal nitrate precursor, alcohol/water, and alkanoic acid. The method can produce lanthanide (e.g., La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, or Yb) and transition metal (e.g., Ag, Co, Cu, or Pb) alkanoate nanoparticles (<100 nm) with spherical morphology. These hybrid nanomaterials adopt a lamellar structure consisting of inorganic metal cation layers separated by an alkanoate anion bilayer and exhibit liquid crystalline phases during melting. The metal alkanoate nanoparticles can be calcined to produce metal oxide nanoparticles.

A method and apparatus for controlling the atmosphere of a multizone calcination (firing) furnace for production of high-quality nickel-rich cathode material for lithium-ion and solid-state batteries. A high-quality oxygen-rich atmosphere is maintained to ensure the quality of the cathode material. An atmosphere control system continuously measures and analyzes the composition of the calcination furnace atmosphere in different zones and adjusts the flowrate of oxygen-rich atmosphere into the furnace to optimize the calcination process.

Provided are a pentasil-type zeolite that is less likely to adsorb water compared to conventional zeolites and has excellent strength when used as a molded body, and a method for producing the pentasil-type zeolite. A pentasil-type zeolite having a water adsorption amount of 4.0 g/100 g-zeolite or less under the conditions of 25° C. and a relative humidity of 90% and having a major axis diameter of primary particles of from 0.2 μm to 4.0 μm, and a method for producing the pentasil-type zeolite.

The present disclosure provides a method for preparing a transition metal lithium oxide, comprising steps of: A) mixing a lithium salt and a transition metal compound, and performing a pretreatment to obtain a precursor; wherein the pretreatment temperature is 100-300° C.; and the pretreatment time is 1-10 h; B) precalcining the precursor to obtain an intermediate; and C) continuously feeding the intermediate into a feed port of a moving bed reactor, and calcining, to obtain a transition metal lithium oxide. In the present disclosure, a pretreatment process is performed before the precalcination, and the pretreatment temperature and time are further limited, thereby solving the problem of material hardening during the calcination process of battery materials. In conjunction with using a moving bed reactor, the gas phase and the solid phase are sufficiently contacted, and at the same time the thickness of the filler is increased, the productivity is enhanced and the oxygen consumption is largely decreased at the same time. The present disclosure further provides an apparatus for preparing a transition metal lithium oxide.

Tungstated zirconium catalysts for paraffin isomerization may comprise: a mixed metal oxide that is at least partially crystalline and comprises tungsten, zirconium, and a variable oxidation state metal selected from Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Ce, Ni, and any combination thereof. The mixed metal oxide comprises about 5 wt. % to about 25 wt. % tungsten, about 40 wt. % to about 70 wt. % zirconium, and about 0.01 wt. % to about 5 wt. % variable oxidation state metal, each based on a total mass of the mixed metal oxide. The mixed metal oxide has a total surface area of about 50 m.sup.2/g or greater as measured according to ISO 9277, and at least one of the following: an ammonia uptake of about 0.05 to about 0.3 mmol/g as measured by temperature programmed adsorption/desorption, or a collidine uptake of about 100 μmol/g or greater as measured gravimetrically.