Abstract

ZAMBRANO COLMENARES, Antonio et al. Hydrometallurgical valuing of cathodic and anodic materials of used rechargeable batteries from the Ni-MH Type. Rev. P+L [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.1, pp.51-63. ISSN 1909-0455.

Introduction. Used batteries are considered as dangerous substances of the technological waste kind.They contain heavy metals, which are harmful for ecosystems and health.This paper introduces a technology to process, by means of hydrometallurgy, the materials contained in used batteries from the hydride metallic type (Ni-MH). Objective. Value the cathodic and anodic materials from used batteries from the (Ni-MH) type,by the use of hydrometallurgical lixiviation and salts precipitation processes. Materials and methods. A 3,7 kg batch of this kind of batteries was manually dissembled and the cathodic and anodic materials were separated and chemically analyzed. The materials were lixiviated with HCL at 14 %. The pregnant liquors, in each case, were subjected to a precipitation process with NaHCO₃, obtaining salts from the metals of interest. Results. The anode mainly contains nickel (50 % m/m), lanthanum (18 % m/m) and cobalt (6 % m/m) and the cathode mainly contains nickel (53 % m/m), cobalt (4 % m/m) and zinc (3 % m/m). The HCL solution was able to lixiviate approximately 87 % and 91% of Ni in the anodic and the cathodic materials, respectively. Finally, the process flowcharts are showed in order to establish a hydrometallurgical process route for this type of technological waste. Conclusion. It is possible to use a metallurgical process with several stages to value the metals contained in the electrode materials from Ni-MH batteries, obtaining metallic salts that can be used in several industrial processes.

Keywords : Recycling; batteries; nickel; Rare Earth Elements -REE-; hydrometallurgy.

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