Improving Separation Efficiency in End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries Flotation Using Attrition Pre-Treatment

The comminution of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) produces a powder containing the active cell components, commonly referred to as “black mass.” Recently, froth flotation has been proposed treat fine fraction black mass (<100 µm) method separate anodic graphite particles from cathodic lithium metal oxides (LMOs). So far, pyrolysis considered an effective treatment remove organic binders in preparation for separation. In this work, performance pyrolyzed obtained industrial recycling plant was improved by adding pre-treatment step consisting mechanical attrition with and without kerosene addition. LMO recovery underflow product increased 70% 85% remained similar, around 86% overflow product. To understand behavior, LIBs compared model mass, comprising fully liberated LMOs particles. addition, ultrafine hydrophilic were added feed entrainment tracer, showing that products is combination true mechanisms. This study highlights during enhances emulsification kerosene, simultaneously increasing its (partial) spread on LMOs, graphite, residual binder, subsequent reduction selectivity.