Process of materials recovery from energy storage devices

A process of recovery of materials, from used energy storage devices, the process comprising:

• air cleaning and washing the energy storage devices with water, whereby the water is gravity filtered for reuse;
• deep discharging the cleaned and washed energy storage devices in a deep discharging solution for 3-5 hours, wherein the deep discharged energy storage devices are air dried to remove surface moisture;
• chopping and crushing the air dried energy storage devices in an airtight crusher at 50° C.-85° C. to obtain 2-8 mm sized crushed material and powdered black mass while collecting evaporated organic electrolyte material including acetonitrile (ACN) from the airtight crusher in an electrolyte collector using condensation;
• separating magnetic and non-magnetic materials from the crushed material using magnetic separator, whereas plastic, the powdered black mass, copper, and aluminum are separated using eddy current technique and gravity air separation method;
• baking a remaining non-magnetic crushed material in the crushed material and the powdered black mass at 250-300° C. for 30 minutes;
• dispersing the baked remaining non-magnetic crushed material and the powdered black mass in deionized (DI) water while stirring at 380-440 rpm to leach Lithium ions in the DI water to form a Lithium contained solution,
• separating floating non-magnetic materials over the solution using a strainer and then filtering the powdered black mass that settles down due to gravity from the Lithium contained solution using a 5-25 microns filter cloth;
• heating the Lithium contained solution at a temperature 89-95° C. for 2-3 hours to obtain Lithium hydroxide powder;
• acid leaching the powdered black mass with an acid of concentration 10-80% w/v, wherein the acid is selected from a group consisting of H2SO4, HCl, HNO3, and a combination thereof, an oxidizing agent of a concentration of 3-10% w/v, wherein
• the oxidizing agent is selected from a group consisting of H2O2, KMnO4 and a combination thereof and deionized water under continuous stirring at 400-800 rpm at a temperature 27-35° C. for 3-5 hours to obtain to obtain a brownish-orange color solution and carbon particle as a precipitate,
• the carbon precipitate is again treated with acid of concentration 10-40% w/v and 10-40% w/v of deionized water to extract second stage of brownish-orange color solution, and
• the process is repeated with gradual decrease of acid concentration and gradual increase of deionized water till only carbon as a precipitate is left, then the carbon precipitate is dried at 70-120° C. to be collected as dried carbon powder;
• mixing the brownish-orange color solution with bicarbonates, sulphates, hydroxides, or combination thereof with continuous stirring at 400-800 rpm at temperature of about 27-35° C. for 2-5 hours till the pH of the solution reaches 8, while the solution is converted to a yellowish orange color solution with a Cobalt salt precipitate, wherein the precipitate is filtered and dried at 70-120° C. to recover dried Cobalt salt;
• processing the yellowish orange color solution with bubbling oxygen at 475-525 kPa pressure and at a temperature 28-33° C. for 0.5-2.5 hours to obtain a pale yellow color solution and a Manganese salt precipitate, wherein the precipitate is filtered and dried at 70-120° C. to recover dried Manganese salt;
• mixing the pale yellow color solution with bicarbonates and/or sulphates and/or hydroxide or combination thereof with continuous stirring at 400-800 rpm at temperature of about 27-35° C. for 2-5 hours till the pH of the solution reaches 14, while the solution is converted to a creamish-yellow color solution with a Nickel salt precipitate, wherein the precipitate is filtered and dried at 70-120° C. to recover dried Nickel salt;
• heating the creamish-yellow color solution at about 60-70° C. till the solution is converted to a lithium-containing clear solution and sodium sulphate precipitate, wherein the precipitate is filtered and dried at 70-120° C. for 1-2 hour to recover dried sodium sulphate salt;
• mixing the lithium-containing clear solution with 7.5M Na2CO3 solution with continuous stirring at 400-800 rpm at a temperature of about 60-80° C. for 2.5-3.5 hours to obtain Lithium salts precipitate, wherein the precipitate is filtered washed with deionized water and then dried at 70-120° C. to recover dried Lithium Carbonate salt powder;
• and
• dissolving dried Lithium hydroxide powder, the dried Cobalt salt, the dried Manganese salt, the dried Nickel salt, dried Lithium Carbonate salt in the deionized water and purifying by selective absorption of respective ions using Ion-exchange resin and liquid-liquid extraction using organic solvent for beneficiation.