Lithium-ion batteries have no recycling value.
You can dispose of them together with used batteries. Most residential communities now have designated places to collect used batteries. You can ask your community property management for details.
From the current technological perspective, the usability of used lithium-ion batteries is very limited, and there is no specialized technology to maximize their benefits; this is because used lithium-ion batteries contain heavy metals and chemical components, which must be specially treated to prevent environmental pollution, and the current technology is not yet mature enough.
Regarding the uses of spent lithium-ion batteries, we understand that the cobalt, lithium, copper, and plastics contained in them are all valuable resources with extremely high recycling value. Therefore, the scientific and effective treatment and disposal of spent lithium-ion batteries not only has significant environmental benefits but also good economic benefits. To alleviate the increasingly serious resource shortages and environmental pollution problems caused by rapid economic development, the full-component recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries has become a global consensus.
Waste lithium-ion batteries mainly consist of a casing, positive electrode, negative electrode, electrolyte, and separator. The positive electrode is formed by coating lithium cobalt oxide powder onto both sides of an aluminum foil current collector using PVDF, which acts as a binder. The negative electrode has a similar structure, consisting of carbon powder bonded to both sides of a copper foil current collector. Common methods for recycling waste lithium-ion batteries include hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, and mechanical-physical methods. Compared to hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, the mechanical-physical method using lithium-ion battery shredders eliminates the need for chemical reagents and consumes less energy, making it an environmentally friendly and efficient method.
Making money by recycling and processing waste lithium-ion batteries is possible. Investing in Kedi Machinery's lithium-ion battery crushing equipment is a good option. Based on the structure of the positive and negative electrodes of lithium-ion batteries and the material characteristics of their constituent materials, copper and carbon powder, it uses a combination of hammer crushing, vibrating screening, and airflow separation processes to separate and recycle the constituent materials of the negative electrodes of waste lithium-ion batteries.
Currently, approximately 100 million mobile phone batteries are discarded annually, each weighing an average of about 20g, with a cobalt content of over 3g. The current price of metallic cobalt is 400,000 yuan per ton. Each ton of discarded batteries yields over 160 kg of recyclable metal, valued at 64,000 yuan. The national recycling value for cobalt alone could reach hundreds of millions of yuan. Aluminum, copper, and organic electrolytes can also be recovered from discarded lithium-ion batteries, all with high value. The main costs of recycling are the electricity consumption of machinery, labor costs, raw materials, transportation costs, and company management fees. With an effective waste mobile phone battery recycling system, the expected annual processing capacity is 100 tons, with annual sales revenue of at least 22.5 million yuan and profits and taxes of 4.5 million yuan. Recycling discarded lithium-ion batteries enables the reuse of materials, which has significant social implications.
The waste lithium-ion battery positive and negative electrode sheet processing production line abandons traditional high-energy-consuming and high-polluting recycling technologies such as pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes. It primarily employs physical recycling methods, supplemented by waste treatment measures, featuring green, low-carbon, energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and pollution-free characteristics, while balancing economic and environmental benefits. It utilizes valuable components while harmlessly treating hazardous components. The entire recycling process is fully automated, with high recycling efficiency and strong processing capacity, handling 500 kg per hour and 5000 tons per year, achieving a valuable component recycling rate of over 90% for waste lithium-ion batteries. With the increasingly widespread application of lithium-ion batteries, recycling valuable metals from lithium-ion batteries, reducing environmental pollution, and alleviating resource scarcity have significant social and economic implications.
Research on the recycling of waste lithium-ion batteries reveals that the recycling methods primarily focus on recovering the positive electrode active materials. In summary, based on the key technologies and principles involved, waste lithium-ion battery recycling technologies can be categorized into three methods: physical, chemical, and mechanical. Yingtong's lithium-ion battery crushing equipment uses a coarse crusher to break the raw materials to below 10mm, then feeds them into a micro-particle crusher for stripping and pulverizing, followed by separation by a micro-powder classifier. The tailings are collected by a downstream cyclone separator and pulse dust collector. This waste lithium-ion battery positive and negative electrode processing equipment is based on the structure of lithium-ion battery positive and negative electrodes and the material characteristics of their constituent materials, copper and carbon powder. It employs a combination of hammer crushing, vibrating screening, and airflow separation to separate and recover the negative electrode components of waste lithium-ion batteries. The entire system operates under negative pressure, preventing dust leakage, and achieving a separation efficiency of over 98%.
