신개념 재활용기술을 이용한 폐망간전지 및 폐리튬이온전지의 효율적 처리방안

Annually above 1 billion unit cells (15,000 tons) of spent batteries have been generated as wastes in Korea. Spent Ni-Cd batteries have been recycled but the other spent batteries did not be treated yet. So recycling processes of spent lithium-ion battery and zinc carbon battery should be developed for environmental aspect as well as the effective utility of resources. In case of spent zinc-carbon and alkaline battery, magnetic material and zinc sheet from the battery were regained by physical treatment process. A series of mechanical processing is conducted in the following sequence to yield enriched Zn and Mn particles: crushing, magnetic separation, sieving and classification. The crushed particles including Zn and Mn were dissolved in sulfuric acid solution with hydrogen peroxide as a reducing agent. After removing impurities such as Fe, Cu and Al, Zinc sulfate and Manganese sulfate were precipitated into compounds powders by low pressure vaporization process. These co-precipitated metal-compounds could be used for feedstuff. In case of spent Li-ion battery, physical treatment of waste LIBS is consist of discharge, dehydration, dry, and crushing step; crushing, magnetic separation, and screening. The leaching was carried out on -16 mesh crushed powders of lithium ion batteries by using diluted sulfuric acid solution and reducing agent. After removing impurities such as Fe, Cu and Al, cobalt ion was separated by solvent extraction process. Purified cobalt sulfate solution could be used for source of lithium secondary battery. Therefore the recycling process of spent lithium secondary battery without waste solution could be developed.