ecovery of cobalt and lithium from spent lithium ion batteries using organic itric acid as leachant

In this work, a hydrometallurgical process based on leaching is applied to recover cobalt and lithium from spent lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Citric acid and hydrogen peroxide are introduced as leaching reagents and the leaching of cobalt and lithium with a solution containing C6H8O7·H2O is investigated. When both C6H8O7·H2O and H2O2 are used an effective recovery of Li and Co as their respective citrates is possible. The leachate is characterized by scanning electron micrography (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The proposed procedure includes the mechanical separation of metal-containing particles and a pent lithium ion batteries