(493c) Multizone Displacement Chromatography Method for the Recovery of High-Purity Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel with High Yield from Complex Mixtures

Critical materials are the backbone of the technologies we rely on daily and their significance is expected to grow in the years ahead due to their increasing demand. They also constitute the essential elements of clean energy technologies, powering innovations ranging from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicle batteries. Cobalt, Lithium, and Nickel are three important elements classified by The United States Department of Energy (DOE) as 'critical' due to the significant likelihood of disruptions in their supply chain, arising from a multitude of factors including political, regulatory, and social dynamics, as well as basic availability constraints. Any shortfall in their supply could fail to keep pace with their growing demand. Therefore, novel methodologies for sourcing these critical materials, along with identifying alternative substitutes and implementing advanced recycling and reuse processes to maximize their utility are needed.

In this research, we have achieved successful purification of Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel sourced from diverse complex feedstocks, encompassing mineral ores, industrial waste streams from solvent extraction processes, and black masses derived from the grinding and sieving of electric vehicle batteries. Our approach integrates an innovative constant-pattern design method tailored for non-ideal displacement systems, enabling the generation of optimal operating parameters without trial and error. These parameters ensure the separation of individual pure components with predefined target purities and yields while maximizing resin utilization. Initially, a customized first zone facilitated the separation of the multi-component complex mixtures, producing pure target products with yields of approximately 75%. Subsequently, the mixed bands collected from this stage underwent further separation in a second zone to increase the overall yield of the target products. The residual mixed bands from the second zone were efficiently recycled to its feed, resulting in the production of high-purity (>99.5%) Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel products at yields exceeding 99%. All the experiments were conducted at room temperature, with the pressure drop maintained below 100 psi, leading to low energy consumption. Additionally, the influence of the displacer concentration and column dimensions on productivity was investigated and optimized to maximize the kilograms of pure (>99.5%) target products per cubic meter of sorbent per day.