Provided is a method for treating an alloy by which nickel and/or cobalt can be selectively isolated from an alloy that contains copper as well as nickel and/or cobalt, in a waste lithium ion battery. The present invention is a method for treating an alloy, by which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained from an alloy that contains copper as well as nickel and/or cobalt, the method including: a leaching step in which a leachate is obtained by subjecting an alloy to an acid-based leaching treatment under conditions in which a sulfurizing agent is also present; a reduction step in which a reduced solution is obtained by subjecting the leachate to a reduction treatment using a reducing agent; and an oxidation/neutralization step in which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained by adding an oxidizing agent and also a neutralizing agent to the reduced solution.

Provided is a method for producing lithium hydroxide, which can obtain lithium hydroxide from lithium sulfate with a relatively low cost. A method for producing lithium hydroxide from lithium sulfate includes: a hydroxylation step of allowing the lithium sulfate to react with barium hydroxide in a liquid to provide a lithium hydroxide solution; a barium removal step of removing barium ions in the lithium hydroxide solution using a cation exchange resin and/or a chelate resin; and a crystallization step of precipitating lithium hydroxide in the lithium hydroxide solution that has undergone the barium removal step.

A method of preparing metal hydroxides from industrial wastes or alkaline rocks is provided. The method comprise subjecting a mixture comprising a solvent and a solid substrate to a stimulus in order to leach a metal cation from the solid substrate into the solvent, thereby forming a solution comprising the metal cation in the solvent; and contacting the solution of comprising the metal cation with a cathode, thereby electrolytically precipitating the metal hydroxide from the solution. The stimulus may be chemical, mechanical, or both.

A metal recovery method includes crushing a photovoltaic module or a photovoltaic sheet-like structure to form debris; and sorting the debris, wherein the photovoltaic sheet-like structure is obtained by removing a glass substrate and a frame member from the photovoltaic module, and includes at least a photovoltaic cell, a metal pattern wired from the photovoltaic cell, and an encapsulant to encapsulate the photovoltaic cell and the metal pattern.

Provided is a method for concentrating a valuable metal contained in a lithium ion secondary battery, for processing a lithium ion secondary battery containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of cobalt and nickel, or a positive electrode material of the lithium ion secondary battery, to concentrate a valuable metal containing either or both of cobalt and nickel. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating the lithium ion secondary battery or the positive electrode material thereof, to form a granular aggregate containing at least one valuable metal selected from the group consisting of cobalt and nickel.

Provided are a raw material discharge device, a method of processing an electronic and electrical device component scrap, and a raw material discharging method of an electronic and electrical device component scrap, which are capable of efficiently discharging the raw material having various shapes, specific gravities and shapes in each fixed amount. A raw material discharge device including: a storage unit 1 which stores a raw material and comprising a discharge port 11 at one end; a discharge unit 2 arranged at a bottom surface 15 of the storage unit 1, which conveys the raw material toward the discharge port 11 and discharges the raw material to an outside of the storage unit 1; an adjustment unit 3 including a plurality of struts 31 extending from above to below the discharge unit 2 and adjusting an amount of the raw material to be discharged by holding a part of the raw material with the struts 31; wherein a ratio (d1/d2) of a distance (d1) between a strut 31 closest to a side surface 13, 14 of the storage unit 1 and the side surface 13, 14 of the storage unit 1 to a narrowest distance (d2) between the struts 31 in a center portion of the storage unit 1, and a ratio (H1/H2) of a height of the strut 31 closest to the side surface 13, 14 of the storage unit 1 from a floor to a minimum height (H2) of a strut 31 which is other than the strut 31 closest to the side surface of the storage unit 1 from the floor are respectively adjustable so as to prevent clogging of the raw material being discharged to the outside of the storage unit 1.

A method according to an embodiment is for recovering a valuable metal from a waste electrode material of a lithium secondary battery by using lithium carbonate. An anode-cathode mixed electrode material that has been separated by draining, crushing, screening, and sorting a waste lithium secondary battery is preprocessed. A precipitation operation performed by adding lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) to a metal melt acquired by performing sulfuric acid dissolution using sulfuric acid. A valuable metal such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and copper is recovered as a residue in the form of a carbonate composite, and a lithium sulfate (Li2SO4) aqueous solution including lithium is recovered as a filtrate.

A method of making black mass from lithium containing batterie includes the steps of closing a chamber enclosing lithium-containing batteries and injecting nitrogen into the chamber to create an atmosphere sufficiently low in oxygen to prevent explosions and burning of the lithium-containing batteries. The lithium-containing batteries are shredded in the nitrogen atmosphere to produce shredded batteries. The shredded batteries are heated in the nitrogen atmosphere to a temperature sufficient to vaporize electrolyte and plastics from the batteries and produce pyrolyzed fragments. Lithium is present in a water-soluble nitrate form within the pyrolyzed fragments. The pyrolyzed fragments are classified to produce a black mass and a remaining metals fraction. The remaining metals fraction can be further classified to recover ferrous metals, light metals, and heavy metals.

There is provided a method for collecting and reusing an active material from positive electrode scrap. The positive electrode active material reuse method of the present disclosure includes (a) thermally treating positive electrode scrap comprising a lithium cobalt oxide positive electrode active material layer on a current collector in air for thermal decomposition of a binder and a conductive material in the active material layer, to separate the current collector from the active material layer, and collecting an active material in the active material layer, (b) washing the collected active material with a lithium compound solution which is basic in an aqueous solution and drying, and (c) annealing the washed active material with an addition of a lithium precursor to obtain a reusable active material.

There is provided a method for collecting and reusing an active material from positive electrode scrap. The positive electrode active material reuse method of the present disclosure includes (a) thermally treating positive electrode scrap comprising a lithium composite transition metal oxide positive electrode active material layer on a current collector in air at 300 to 650° C. for 1 hour or less for thermal decomposition of a binder and a conductive material in the active material layer, to separate the current collector from the active material layer, and collecting an active material in the active material layer, and (b) annealing the collected active material with an addition of a lithium precursor to obtain a reusable active material.