Process, apparatus, and system for recovering materials from batteries
AssigneeLi-Cycle Corp.
InventorsAjay Kochhar, Timothy George Johnston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present application provides a process to recover materials from rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, thus recycling them. The process involves processing the batteries into a size-reduced feed stream; and then, via a series of separation, isolation, and/or leaching steps, allows for recovery of a copper product, cobalt, nickel, and/or manganese product, and a lithium product; and, optional recovery of a ferrous product, aluminum product, graphite product, etc. An apparatus and system for carrying out size reduction of batteries under immersion conditions is also provided.
Claims17
An apparatus for carrying out size reduction of battery materials under immersion conditions, comprising:
- a housing configured to hold an immersion liquid, the immersion liquid comprising at least one of sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide;
- a first feed chute defining an opening therein for receiving battery materials of a first type into the housing;
- a second feed chute defining an opening therein for receiving battery materials of a second type into the housing;
- a first submergible comminuting device disposed within the housing to receive the battery materials of the first type from the first feed chute, wherein said first submergible comminuting device is configured to cause a size reduction of the battery materials of the first type to form a first reduced-size battery material;
- and
- a second submergible comminuting device disposed within the housing to receive the first reduced-size battery material from the first submergible comminuting device, wherein the second submergible comminuting device is configured to cause a further size reduction in the first reduced-size battery material to form a second reduced-size battery material
- a delivering apparatus configured to deliver the battery materials of the second type from the second feed chute directly to the second submergible comminuting device, and
- wherein the second submergible comminuting device is configured to cause a size reduction in the battery materials of the second type.
A system for carrying out size reduction of battery materials under immersion conditions, comprising:
- (a) a first submergible comminuting device to receive battery materials of a first type, wherein the first submergible comminuting device causes a size reduction in the battery materials of the first type to form a first reduced-size battery material;
- (b) a second submergible comminuting device to receive the first reduced-size battery material, wherein the second submergible comminuting device causes a further size reduction in the first reduced-size battery material to form a second reduced-size battery material;
- (c) a second delivery system for delivering battery materials of a second type to the second submergible comminuting device, wherein the second submergible comminuting device causes a size reduction in the battery materials of the second type to form a comminuted material that combines with the second reduced-size battery material
- and
- (d) an immersion liquid in which each of the first submergible comminuting device, the second submergible comminuting device, the first reduced-size battery material, the comminuted material and the second reduced-size battery material are submerged, the immersion liquid comprising at least one of sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.