Hydrometallurgical recycling of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries by reductive leaching with stannous chloride

The reductant is a critical factor in the hydrometallurgical recycling of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). There is limited information regarding the use of SnCl2 as a reductant with organic acid (maleic acid) for recovering valuable metals from spent Li-CoO2 material. In this study, the leaching efficiencies of Li and Co with 1 mol·L−1 of maleic acid and 0.3 mol·L−1 of SnCl2 were found to be 98.67% and 97.5%, respectively, at 60°C and a reaction time of 40 min. We investigated the kinetics and thermodynamics of the leaching process in this study to better understand the mechanism of the leaching process. Based on a comparison with H2O2 with respect to leaching efficiency, the optimal leaching parameters, and the activation energy, we determined that it is feasible to replace H2O2 with SnCl2 as a leaching reductant in the leaching process. In addition, when SnCl2 is used in the acid-leaching process, Sn residue in the leachate may have a positive effect on the re-synthesis of nickel-rich cathode materials. Therefore, the results of this study provide a potential direction for the selection of reductants in the hydrometallurgical recovery of valuable metals from spent LIBs.