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 process for nickel concentration and extraction from non-sulfidic iron-bearing nickeliferous resources is disclosed. The process includes an atmospheric acid-based leaching treatment of the non-sulfidic iron-bearing nickeliferous resources by oxalic acid to produce a nickel concentrate comprising distinct nickel oxalate particles. The nickel concentrate is technically amenable to further chemical and physical processing to obtain various high-grade nickel products.

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 process for treating spent catalyst containing heavy metals, e.g., Group VIB metals and Group VIII metals is provided. In one embodiment after deoiling, the spent catalyst is treated with an ammonia leach solution under conditions sufficient to dissolve the group VIB metal and the Group VIII metal into the leaching solution, forming a leach slurry. After solid-liquid separation to recover a leach solution, chemical precipitation and solids repulping is carried out to obtain an effluent stream containing ammonium sulfate (Amsul), ammonium sulfamate, Group VB, Group VIB and Group VIII metals. Following sulfidation, the Group VIII metal is fully removed and Group VB and Group VI metals are partially removed from the Amsul stream. In the additional steps of oxydrolysis and iron precipitation, an effective amount of ferric ion at a pre-select pH is added to form insoluble complexes with the Group VB and Group VIB metals, which upon liquid-solid separation produces an effluent ammonium sulfate stream containing less than 10 ppm each of the Group VB and Group VIB metals.

A method of recovering cobalt and nickel includes the steps of: adding alkaline to an acidic solution containing aluminum together with cobalt and nickel, adjusting pH of the acidic solution to 5 to 7, and converting the cobalt, the nickel and the aluminum into hydroxides thereof; recovering the hydroxides by solid-liquid separation, mixing the recovered hydroxides with an alkaline solution, and leaching aluminum contained in the hydroxides under a liquid condition of pH 8 or more; and recovering a cobalt hydroxide and a nickel hydroxide that aluminum is separated therefrom by solid-separation on a leachate.

Certain method embodiments are described and useful for recycling permanent magnet materials (e.g. permanent magnet alloys) and battery materials (e.g. battery electrode materials) to extract critical and/or valuable elements including REEs, Co and Ni. Method embodiments involve reacting such material with at least one of an ammonium salt and an iron (III) salt to achieve at least one of a liquid phase chemical reaction and a mechanochemical reaction.

A process for recovering and purifying nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), and lithium (Li) from black mass obtained from recycling of lithium-ion batteries to produce high purity products. The process may include reductive acid leaching, impurity removal, precipitation of valuable metals such as Ni, Co, Mn, and Li. The process may also include recycling of Li compounds as hydroxide or carbonate as a source of alkaline reagent for impurity removal and/or precipitation of the valuable metals.

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.

The present invention discloses an inventive method for manufacturing a catalyst using alloy granules having a high-Ni content. The inventive method may include providing alloy granules comprising aluminum and nickel, and treating the alloy granules with an alkaline solution to form the catalyst. A content of the nickel in the alloy granules may be within a range of about 43 wt % to about 60 wt %. The alloy granules may have effective diameters within a range of about 1 mm to about 10 mm. The catalyst may have an attrition value of less than about 7.0%.

The present invention discloses an inventive method for manufacturing a catalyst using alloy granules having a high-Ni content. The inventive method may include providing alloy granules comprising aluminum and nickel, and treating the alloy granules with an alkaline solution to form the catalyst. A content of the nickel in the alloy granules may be within a range of about 43 wt % to about 60 wt %. The alloy granules may have effective diameters within a range of about 1 mm to about 10 mm. The catalyst may have an attrition value of less than about 7.0%.