Process for extracting metals from lithium-ion batteries

Process (100) for the extraction of metals from lithium-ion batteries comprising:

• 1. an opening phase (1) comprising opening a battery (1a) and charge zeroing (1b) with immersion in an aqueous NaCl solution;
• 2. a separation step (2) comprising separating a copper element included in said battery from a by-product consisting of the rest of the battery components;
• said components being an adhesive, polyethylene, aluminum, cathode material, anode material;
• 3. a crushing stage (3) comprising size reduction of the by-product obtained in step (2);
• 4. a leaching step (4), assisted by sonication with ultrasounds and/or microwaves involving leaching of said dimensionally reduced by-product into an aqueous solution additivated with organic acids, selected from the group consisting of:
• citric acid, acetic acid, maleic acid, oxalic acid, L-ascorbic acid, succinic acid, quinic acid, isocitric acid, tannic acid, caffeic acid, lactic acid, formic acid, uridic acid, barbituric acid, benzenesulphonidic acid, benzoic acid, bromacetic acid, chloroacetic acid, fumaric acid, gallic acid, phthalic acid, propionic acid, salicylic acid, sorbic acid, butyric acid, and mixtures thereof, at a concentration between 0.5 M and 1.5 M and recovering reducing agents, said aqueous solution comprising said by-product and water in a constant volumetric ratio of 1:10, a weight ratio between recovery reducing agent and by-product equal to 1:5, said aqueous solution and said dimensionally reduced by-product being agitated in a container for between 30 minutes and 60 minutes at a temperature between 25° C. and 90° C., so as to obtain a leaching solution;
• 5. a centrifugation step (5) in which the adhesive and polyethylene are separated from the by-product;
• 6. a first filtration step (6) comprising removal of solid residues from the leaching solution;
• 7. a first precipitation step (7) comprising raising the pH of the leaching solution to 12 through the addition of KOH and maintaining the solution for between 20 minutes and 40 minutes at a temperature of between 60° C. and 90° C., in order to obtain precipitates of Ni(OH)2 and Mn(OH)2;
• 8. a second filtration step (8) to separate the Ni(OH)2 and Mn(OH)2 precipitates from the leaching solution;
• 9. a second precipitation step (9) in which the leaching solution is maintained at pH=12 by dosing the KOH concentration, and to which ethanol is added so as to obtain precipitated Co(OH)2 and supernatant, the Co(OH)2 being recovered by centrifugation of the solution;
• and
• 10. a third precipitation step (10) wherein the supernatant obtained downstream of the second precipitation step (9) is insufflated with gaseous CO2 to obtain Li2CO3 precipitate;
• wherein the reducing agents are derived from the drying and crushing of products of plant and/or fruit origin that have an effective amount of antioxidant phenolic compounds and/or reducing sugars.