2021 Annual Meeting

(652h) Development of Heterogenous Equilibrium Model for Lithium Solvent Extraction Using Organophosphinic Acid

Author

Lu, J. - Presenter, The Univeristy Of Melbourne
Circular economy is a promising approach to relieve the stresses in the supplychain, by which the end-of-life lithium-ion batteries are recycled to manufacture new batteries. This study applies solvent extraction technology to recycle critical metals (lithium and cobalt) from spent lithium-ion leachate. An organic solvent containing Cyanex 272/TBP was found to extractant to recover both cobalt and lithium together from spent lithium-ion batteries. A new heterogenous equilibrium model for the extraction has been developed and validated experimentally developed in the paper. This model is able to determine the extraction performance of lithium and other metals over a range of operating conditions. The impact from pH, other metals and extractant content is significant, while the impact from temperature, leachate ionic strength and TBP content is minimal.