Re: Recycling NCM lithium-ion batteries with citric acid

On 16/11/2024 05:22, Jan Panteltje wrote:

  Recycling batteries with citric acid
 Highly efficient recycling process for NCM lithium-ion batteries
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241115124731.htm
 Summary:
  A simple, highly efficient, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly process
  could provide a viable pathway for the sustainable recycling of depleted lithium-ion batteries  (LIBs):
  No chemicals beyond citric acid need to be added to leach out and separate
  over 99 % of the lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese metals contained in
  NCM batteries.
  The resulting recycled material can be directly converted into NCM electrodes, reports a research team.
 Link with more info:
  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15213773/homepage/press/202419press.html

You do get some interesting chemistry with citrates not all of it good for you. Natural fruit acids is not the same as harmless. Oxalic acid of rhubarb leaves and ant stings is really rather nasty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_organic_acid_salts
Although cute the worry is much more about the metal ions than the acid used to dissolve them. The cobalt chloride pale pink "invisible ink" of our childhood which turns blue when heated is now deemed a carcinogen and all dessicants using it as an indicator were withdrawn around Y2k.
Hydrochloric acid will dissolve all of the above metals a lot quicker.
--
Martin Brown