Systems and methods for direct recycling and upcycling of spent cathode materials using Flame-Assisted Spray Pyrolysis Technology (FAST). In illustrative embodiments, cathode layers are separated and collected from spent battery cells. The cathode laminate is ground to a powdered form and treated to remove contaminants by sifting into a hot stream of air which heats the powders, burning off contaminants. After cooling and particle collection, the powders may be dispersed into leaching solution to dissolve metal oxides and create an acid metal solution or ground into nano-sized primary particles and mixed with dispersing liquids to form a solution. The solution may be mixed with glycerol and additional metal salts to create a final precursor solution, which may undergo spray pyrolysis followed by drying and calcination to create cathode materials with high consistency and repeatability, or mixed with an alkaline metal salt solution and undergo electrodeposition to recover desired metal salts.

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.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for separating Dy and Tb from an alloy containing Dy and Tb as constitutional metals without using a solvent extraction method. The method of the present invention as a means for resolution is characterized by comprising vaporizing Dy by subjecting the alloy to a heat treatment in an atmosphere of a pressure Pt(Pa) that, when a Dy—Tb composition in the alloy is Dy.sub.xTb.sub.y (atomic composition ratio) and a heat treatment temperature is t, satisfies formula 1: Pt.sub.Tb<Pt<Pt.sub.Dy×(x/(x+y)), wherein Pt.sub.Dy is a vapor pressure (Pa) of Dy alone at the temperature t and Pt.sub.Tb is a vapor pressure (Pa) of Tb alone at the temperature t.

A volatiles consuming eductor system for coated scrap metal furnaces with separate delacquering and melt chambers. Motive gas is forced through an inlet into a mixing chamber in a direction opposite a suction port, creating a Venturi that draws gases from the delaquering chamber through the mixing chamber. The motive gas and the drawn gases mix and are forced through a discharge port, ignited, and injected into the melt chamber to help heat the melt chamber. A computer monitors process conditions and controls a regulator that adjusts the motive gas flow in response to those conditions.

A method for treating combustible material of the present invention includes providing a pipe opened to a molten substance surface above the molten substance surface of molten substance stored in a furnace body for smelting nonferrous metals, and blowing combustible material containing valuable metals and oxygen-enriched air into the molten substance surface of the molten substance from the pipe.

The invention relates to recovery of tin-lead solder from electronic printed circuit board scrap. The scrap is placed in a liquid-permeable and/or gas-permeable container, which is placed in a liquid or gaseous heat-transfer medium heated to or above the melting temperature of the tin-lead solder. After the tin-lead solder is melted, the heat-transfer medium is removed from the container, then, by means of rotation of the container, the melted tin-lead solder and the remains of the heat-transfer medium are removed from the container. The device comprises a hollow container, which is mounted so as to be capable of rotation and is designed in the form of a body of revolution, and is liquid-permeable and/or gas-permeable in a radial direction from the axis of rotation. The container can be designed in the form of a drum, which can be vertically displaced and has perforated side walls.

The invention concerns a process for the separation of cobalt from lithium present in a charge comprising lithium-ion batteries or related products, comprising the steps of: smelting the charge using a bath furnace equipped with a submerged air-fed plasma torch for injecting plasma gas into the melt; defining and maintaining a bath redox potential where cobalt is reduced to the metallic state and reporting to an alloy phase, and whereby lithium is oxidized as Li.sub.2O and reporting to the slag phase; decanting and separating the phases. It is characterized in that the reduction and oxidizing steps are performed simultaneously. A suitably low cobalt concentration is obtained in the slag.

A recycling process that facilitates separation of materials from metallic substrates by cryogenically cooling the recyclable items to induce embrittlement of the metals. Embrittled metals may be shattered more efficiently and with a higher yield of materials bound to the metallic substrates. Metal embrittlement may be induced by mixing the source stream with liquid nitrogen, and cooling the stream to approximately minus 200° F. Multiple recovery stages may be employed to maximize the yield of the target materials. Embodiments may enable recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from catalytic converters with metallic foil substrates. Yield of PGMs may be enhanced by employing a primary recovery stage and a secondary recovery stage, by cryogenically cooling input materials for each stage, by mixing the pulverized material in secondary recovery with an aqueous solution to dissipate attractive charges, and by wet screening the pulverized material slurry to obtain the PGM particles.

A method of treating rare earth metal-bearing permanent magnet scrap, waste or other material in a manner to recover the heavy rare earth metal content separately from the light rare earth metal content. The heavy rare earth metal content can be recovered either as a heavy rare earth metal-enriched iron based alloy or as a heavy rare earth metal based alloy.

The present disclosure concerns an apparatus suitable for smelting and separating metals in flexible oxido-reduction conditions. More particularly, it concerns an apparatus for smelting metallurgical charges comprising a bath furnace susceptible to contain a molten charge up to a determined level, characterized in that the furnace is equipped with: at least one non-transfer plasma torch for the generation of first hot gases; at least one oxygas burner for the generation of second hot gasses; and, submerged injectors for injecting said first and second hot gases below said determined level.