A short overview of recycling and treatment of spent LiFePO4 battery
Noor Fatima, Nizamuddin Solangi, Faiza Safdar, Jai Kumar
Abstract
Development in the field of electric vehicles brought great interest in recycling the spent Li-ion batteries. In particular, the value of LiFePO<sub>4</sub> (LFP)-type batteries have enhanced in energy market owing to its longer life span, improved discharge and charge efficiency, and safe handling. The rising utilization of such batteries has enhanced concern about their proper disposal, where improper handling could consequence in toxic material entering the environment. Consequently, waste LFP battery recycling is receiving a lot of attention. So far, two common methods have been acknowledged for battery recycling: 1) Hydrometallurgy; 2) Pyrometallurgy. The high temperature utilization in Pyrometallurgy process, limited their further application. On the other hand, hydrometallurgy process is known as promising method for precious metal digestion and regeneration. Herein, we have provided an overview about LiFePO<sub>4</sub> battery recycling. The recycling of cathode from its deactivation to metal recovery were sectioned. The current review article reports the problems related to the recycling process of batteries, the need to extract the metal, and possible routes for recycling. State of the art in preprocessing End-of-Life LiFePO<sub>4</sub> batteries and the final batteries recovery is discussed. In last, the regeneration of spent battery via different approach were discussed shortly. It is believed the proposed review would be helpful to understand the overall waste battery recycling approach.