Concepts for the Sustainable Hydrometallurgical Processing of End-of-Life Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries with an LFP cell chemistry are experiencing strong growth in the global battery market. Consequently, a process concept has been developed to recycle and recover critical raw materials, particularly graphite and lithium. The developed process concept consists of a thermal pretreatment to remove organic solvents and binders, flotation for anode–cathode separation, and hydrometallurgical processes for product recovery. It has been shown that a pretreatment step is necessary for efficient flotation. By increasing the thermal treatment temperatures up to 450 °C, recovery rates of up to 73% are achieved. Similar positive effects are observed with leaching, where leaching efficiencies increase with higher treatment temperatures up to 400 °C. The results indicate that the thermal treatment of the black mass significantly influences both flotation and hydrometallurgical processes.