# US 11,077,452 B2 · Process, apparatus, and system for recovering materials from batteries

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- Number: US 11,077,452 B2
- Document ID: US11077452B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/461,158
- Filed: 2018-05-30
- Published: 2020-03-12
- Granted: 2021-08-03
- Earliest claimed: 2017-05-30
- Assignees: Li-Cycle Corp.
- Applicants: Li-Cycle Corp.
- Inventors: Ajay Kochhar; Timothy George Johnston
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11077452B2

## CPC

- B03B 9/06: specially adapted for refuse
- B02C 23/36: the crushing or disintegrating zone being submerged in liquid
- B02C 23/38: in apparatus having multiple crushing or disintegrating zones
- B03C 1/23: with material carried by oscillating fields; with material carried by travelling fields, e.g. generated by stationary magnetic coils; Eddy-current separators, e.g. sliding ramp
- C01D 15/02: Oxides; Hydroxides
- C22B 1/005: {Preliminary treatment of scrap (C22B1/02 - C22B1/26 take precedence)}
- C22B 7/007: {by acid leaching}
- C22B 21/0015: {by wet processes (C22B21/02, C22B21/04 and C22B21/06 take precedence)}
- C22B 23/0415: {with acids or salt solutions except ammonium salts solutions}
- C22B 26/12: Obtaining lithium
- C22B 47/00: Obtaining manganese
- H01M 10/0525: Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries
- H01M 10/54: Reclaiming serviceable parts of waste accumulators
- B03B 2009/066: {the refuse being batteries}
- B03C 2201/20: Magnetic separation of bulk or dry particles in mixtures
- Y02P 10/20: Recycling
- Y02W 30/52: Mechanical processing of waste for the recovery of materials, e.g. crushing, shredding, separation or disassembly
- Y02W 30/84: Recycling of batteries or fuel cells
- B03B: SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
- B02C: CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN ({household tools and machines for pulverising foodstuffs, e.g. coffee and spice mills A47J42/00; pharmaceutical mortars A61J3/02; mechanical processing of refuse and garbage B03B9/06; dressing mould materials by grinding B22C5/04}; obtaining metallic powder by crushing, grinding or milling B22F9/04; {recovery of plastics by disintegrating B29B17/00; crushing raw materials in starch making C08B30/02; beaters for papermaking D21D1/02; crushing devices specially for transport in mines E21F13/002; slag crushing devices F23J1/00; fuel milling devices in combustion apparatus F23K1/00; household devices for crushing coal F24B15/02; ice disintegrating devices F25C5/02})
- B03C: MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS (separating isotopes B01D59/00; combinations of magnetic or electrostatic separation with separation of solids by other means B03B, B07B)
- C01D: COMPOUNDS OF ALKALI METALS, i.e. LITHIUM, SODIUM, POTASSIUM, RUBIDIUM, CAESIUM, OR FRANCIUM (metal hydrides {monoborane, diborane or addition complexes thereof} C01B6/00; salts of oxyacids of halogens C01B11/00; peroxides, salts of peroxyacids C01B15/00; sulfides C01B17/22; thiosulfates, dithionites, polythionates C01B17/64; compounds containing selenium or tellurium C01B19/00; binary compounds of nitrogen with metals C01B21/06; azides C01B21/08; {compounds other than ammonia and cyanogen, containing nitrogen and other non-metals C01B21/082}; metal amides C01B21/092; nitrites C01B21/50; phosphides C01B21/50; {compounds of noble gases C01B23/0005}; phosphides C01B25/08; salts of oxyacids of phosphorus C01B25/16; carbides C01B32/90; compounds containing silicon C01B33/00; compounds containing boron C01B35/00; cyanides C01C3/08; salts of cyanic acid C01C3/14; salts of cyanamide C01C3/16; thiocyanates C01C3/20)
- C22B: PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS (electrolytic C25); PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
- H01M: PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02W: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT

## 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.

## Claims

### Claim 1

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.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first submergible comminuting device is selected from a multi-shaft shredder, a hammer mill, a jaw crusher, a cone crusher, or a roll crusher; and/or the second submergible comminuting device is selected from a multi-shaft shredder or a granulator.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the first submergible comminuting device and the second submergible comminuting device is a multi-shaft shredder.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the battery materials of the first type and the battery materials of the second type are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the immersion liquid is basic and is at least electrically conductive whereby sparking caused by the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is suppressed and heat generated by the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is absorbed by the immersion liquid.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the immersion liquid reacts with hydrogen fluoride produced via a liberation of a electrolyte materials from within the battery materials of the first type during the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type, whereby the evolution of hydrogen fluoride during the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is inhibited.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the immersion liquid within the housing is at an operating temperature that is less than about 70 degrees Celsius to inhibit chemical reactions between electrolyte materials from within the battery materials of the first type and the immersion liquid.

### Claim 8

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.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein each of the first submergible comminuting device and the second submergible comminuting device causes the size reduction or the further size reduction by compression or shearing.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the battery materials of the first type and the battery materials of the second type are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the immersion liquid is an aqueous solution.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the aqueous solution comprises calcium hydroxide.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the aqueous solution comprises a salt, wherein the salt is an alkali metal chloride, an alkaline earth metal chloride, or mixtures thereof.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, further comprising a third comminuting device to receive comminuted battery materials from the second submergible comminuting device, wherein the third comminuting device is optionally submergible in the immersion liquid and causes a size reduction of the comminuted battery materials received from the second submergible comminuting device.

### Claim 15 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the immersion liquid is basic and is at least electrically conductive whereby sparking caused by the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is suppressed and heat generated by the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is absorbed by the immersion liquid.

### Claim 16 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the immersion liquid reacts with hydrogen fluoride produced via a liberation of a electrolyte materials from within the battery materials of the first type during the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type, whereby the evolution of hydrogen fluoride during the size reduction of the battery materials of the first type is inhibited.

### Claim 17 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the immersion liquid within the housing is at an operating temperature that is less than about 70 degrees Celsius to inhibit chemical reactions between electrolyte materials from within the battery materials of the first type and the immersion liquid.