Circular raw material and waste management: a comparison of biological and chemical approaches for the recovery of metals from spent lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Modern production processes are characterized by the extensive demand for metal in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries used in electronic equipment and electric vehicles. These products are essential for the functioning of today’s society, therefore, the demand for metallic raw materials increases annually, and their natural resources are overexploited. The solution to this issue is the recovery of raw materials from polymetallic waste, which includes spent lithium-ion batteries. The extraction of metals from this type of waste material has already been implemented on an industrial scale, but the priority now is to create technologies that will not only be effective in terms of metal recovery but also environmentally friendly, following sustainable development goals and the principles of a circular economy. Concerning the need for alternative ecological methods of waste processing, the concept of recovering Co, Cu, Li and Ni from waste lithium-ion batteries using a biotic and mild chemical approach was proposed. It has been determined that the biological approach to metal recovery may be a promising process in the recycling of lithium-ion battery waste since within 7 days, at a pulp density of 1% and using Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans bacteria, comparable results were obtained for the recovery of Co (25.7%), Li (48.8%) and Ni (28.3%) as for leaching with mild organic citric acid. Moreover, the fungus Aspergillus niger may be a promising microorganism used in the bioleaching of electrode powder from spent lithium-ion batteries, although the process using it requires the optimization of bioreactor parameters.