Recovery of Cobalt from Spent Lithium-Ion Mobile Phone Batteries Using Liquid–Liquid Extraction
Daniel Quintero-Almanza,
Zeferino Gamiño-Arroyo,
Lorena Eugenia Sánchez-Cadena,
Fernando Israel Gómez-Castro,
Agustín Ramón Uribe-Ramírez,
Alberto Florentino Aguilera-Alvarado,
Luz Marina Ocampo Carmona
Affiliations
Daniel Quintero-Almanza
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Zeferino Gamiño-Arroyo
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Lorena Eugenia Sánchez-Cadena
Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Avenida Juárez No. 77, Col. Centro, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Fernando Israel Gómez-Castro
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Agustín Ramón Uribe-Ramírez
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Alberto Florentino Aguilera-Alvarado
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
Luz Marina Ocampo Carmona
Departamento de Materiales y Minerales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín, Calle 75 N. 79 A 51 Bloque M17 of 407-05, Medellín 050034, Colombia
The aim of this paper was to propose and test a continuous cobalt recovery process from waste mobile phone batteries. The procedure started with dismantling, crushing, and classifying the materials. A study on leaching with sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide was carried out with subsequent selective separation of cobalt by means of liquid−liquid extraction. The best extraction conditions were determined based on a sequence of experiments that consisted of selecting the best extractant for cobalt, then assessing the impact of extractant concentration, pH, and contact time on the extraction yield. With these conditions, an extraction isotherm was obtained and correlated with a mathematical model to define the number of extraction stages for a countercurrent process using the McCabe−Thiele method. Then, a similar study was done for stripping conditions and, as a last step, cobalt electroplating was performed. The proposed process offers a solution for the treatment of these batteries, avoiding potential problems of contamination and risk for living beings, as well as offering an opportunity to recover valuable metal.
