A METHOD OF RECOVERING METALS FROM SPENT Li-ION BATTERIES

A process for recovering valuable metals from spent lithium ion batteries comprising the steps of:

• a) shredding the lithium ion batteries into particles of a preferable size, in water, with water level well above the level of the batteries being shredded to obtain a slurry and shredded plastic and Teflon matrix;
• b) removing the plastic and Teflon matrix that floats on the water in step a);
• c) wet screening the slurry obtained in step a) through sieve of at least fifty mesh size to separate particles of varying sizes;
• wherein coarser particles containing copper, aluminum and protection circuit modules form screened slurry containing solids are retained by the sieve and collected, and finer particles containing lithium and cobalt are aggregated;
• d) filtering the lithium and cobalt containing aggregate of step c) through a filter press to obtain a wash liquor containing lithium and a residue containing cobalt, metal impurities and organic matrix;
• e) drying the residue of step d) and roasting the dried residue at 900° C. to obtain cobalt oxide;
• f) washing and filtering the cobalt oxide of step e) with dilute acid solution at pH range 2.0 to 3.0 to obtain pure cobalt oxide and filtrate;
• g) treating the wash liquor of step d) with saturated solution of soda ash at pH range 11 to 11.5 and temperature ranging from 80 to 120° C. for 3-6 hours to obtain lithium carbonate precipitate and supernatant.