• Energy Research

The growing demand for lithium, driven by its crucial role in energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and portable electronics, is intensifying the need for sustainable extraction methods. While lithium is sourced from both primary and secondary resources, particularly from recycled materials, the recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries remains challenging. This article presents acidic reductive leaching as a promising alternative for lithium extraction from secondary sources and unconventional ores, emphasizing its potential benefits, such as higher recovery rates, faster processing, and adaptability to various waste materials. Notably, this method facilitates the selective recovery of lithium before cobalt and nickel, providing a strategic advantage. This study highlights the lack of optimization studies on leaching conditions (e.g., acid concentration, reducing agents, temperature, and time) that could maximize lithium recovery while minimizing environmental and economic costs. The article aims to investigate and optimize the parameters of acidic reductive leaching for more efficient lithium recovery. Additionally, the results contribute to the principles of the circular economy and sustainable supply chains in the energy sector, providing a method to reduce dependency on geopolitically constrained lithium resources and supporting the global energy transition toward cleaner energy solutions.

The growing demand for lithium, driven by its crucial role in energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and portable electronics, is intensifying the need for sustainable extraction methods. While lithium is sourced from both primary and secondary resources, particularly from recycled materials, the recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries remains challenging. This article presents acidic reductive leaching as a promising alternative for lithium extraction from secondary sources and unconventional ores, emphasizing its potential benefits, such as higher recovery rates, faster processing, and adaptability to various waste materials. Notably, this method facilitates the selective recovery of lithium before cobalt and nickel, providing a strategic advantage. This study highlights the lack of optimization studies on leaching conditions (e.g., acid concentration, reducing agents, temperature, and time) that could maximize lithium recovery while minimizing environmental and economic costs. The article aims to investigate and optimize the parameters of acidic reductive leaching for more efficient lithium recovery. Additionally, the results contribute to the principles of the circular economy and sustainable supply chains in the energy sector, providing a method to reduce dependency on geopolitically constrained lithium resources and supporting the global energy transition toward cleaner energy solutions.

The rapidly growing production and usage of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) dramatically raises the number of harmful wastes. Consequently, the LIBs waste management processes, taking into account reliability, efficiency, and sustainability criteria, became a hot issue in the context of environmental protection as well as the scarcity of metal resources. In this paper, we propose for the first time a functional material—a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) from the LIBs-based liquid waste containing heavy metal ions. At first, the spent battery waste powder was treated with acid-leaching, where the post-treatment acid-leaching solution (ALS) contained heavy metal ions including cobalt. Then, ALS was used during wet co-precipitation to obtain cobalt-doped superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and as an effect, the harmful liquid waste was purified from cobalt. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized with SEM, TEM, XPS, and magnetometry. Subsequently, superparamagnetic nanoparticles sized 15 nm average in diameter and magnetization saturation of about 91 emu g−1 doped with Co were used to prepare the MRF that increases the viscosity by about 300% in the presence of the 100 mT magnetic fields. We propose a facile and cost-effective way to utilize harmful ALS waste and use them in the preparation of superparamagnetic particles to be used in the magnetorheological fluid. This work describes for the first time the second life of the battery waste in the MRF and a facile way to remove the harmful ingredients from the solutions obtained after the acid leaching of LIBs as an effective end-of-life option for hydrometallurgical waste utilization.

The rapidly growing production and usage of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) dramatically raises the number of harmful wastes. Consequently, the LIBs waste management processes, taking into account reliability, efficiency, and sustainability criteria, became a hot issue in the context of environmental protection as well as the scarcity of metal resources. In this paper, we propose for the first time a functional material—a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) from the LIBs-based liquid waste containing heavy metal ions. At first, the spent battery waste powder was treated with acid-leaching, where the post-treatment acid-leaching solution (ALS) contained heavy metal ions including cobalt. Then, ALS was used during wet co-precipitation to obtain cobalt-doped superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and as an effect, the harmful liquid waste was purified from cobalt. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized with SEM, TEM, XPS, and magnetometry. Subsequently, superparamagnetic nanoparticles sized 15 nm average in diameter and magnetization saturation of about 91 emu g−1 doped with Co were used to prepare the MRF that increases the viscosity by about 300% in the presence of the 100 mT magnetic fields. We propose a facile and cost-effective way to utilize harmful ALS waste and use them in the preparation of superparamagnetic particles to be used in the magnetorheological fluid. This work describes for the first time the second life of the battery waste in the MRF and a facile way to remove the harmful ingredients from the solutions obtained after the acid leaching of LIBs as an effective end-of-life option for hydrometallurgical waste utilization.

Energy transition is one of the basic actions taken to counteract and prevent climate change. The basic assumption of energy-related changes is its sustainable use according to the closed-loop model, as well as moving away from fossil fuels, in particular from coal, the combustion of which contributes to excessive harmful carbon dioxide emissions. One of the most popular solutions towards green energy is nuclear energy. Its use allows for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions harmful to the environment and climate, but it also involves the generation of radioactive waste that requires appropriate processing. This paper presents the results of the flotation removal of barium(II) ions from a dilute aqueous solution using ionized acyclic polyethers. The basic factors determining the efficiency and kinetics of the process were defined. It has been shown that as the acidity of the attached polyether molecules increases: the flotation rate constant 1 (0.1667 min−1) < 3 (0.2468 min−1) < 2 (0.3616 min−1) and the separation degree Ba2+: 1 (86.8%) < 3 (99.3%) < 2 (99.4%). The presented results of ion flotation tests may facilitate the collective or selective separation of radioactive isotopes, i.e., Cs-137, Sr-90, Ba-133 and Co-60, from radioactive wastewater in the future. The results of the experimental work described in the article can also be used to develop individual processes for separating mixtures of radioactive isotopes (radioactive wastewater) into individual components (isotopes) and subjecting them to subsequent transformation processes. The obtained results allow us to claim that the tested organic compounds can be used in the future in the selective treatment of hazardous wastewater, which will translate into a reduction in unit costs of industrial processes. The selective recovery of individual pollutants is the basis for the next step in waste management, i.e., designing a cheap method of waste disposal, which also directly affects the economics of the process and its use in industrial conditions.

Energy transition is one of the basic actions taken to counteract and prevent climate change. The basic assumption of energy-related changes is its sustainable use according to the closed-loop model, as well as moving away from fossil fuels, in particular from coal, the combustion of which contributes to excessive harmful carbon dioxide emissions. One of the most popular solutions towards green energy is nuclear energy. Its use allows for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions harmful to the environment and climate, but it also involves the generation of radioactive waste that requires appropriate processing. This paper presents the results of the flotation removal of barium(II) ions from a dilute aqueous solution using ionized acyclic polyethers. The basic factors determining the efficiency and kinetics of the process were defined. It has been shown that as the acidity of the attached polyether molecules increases: the flotation rate constant 1 (0.1667 min−1) < 3 (0.2468 min−1) < 2 (0.3616 min−1) and the separation degree Ba2+: 1 (86.8%) < 3 (99.3%) < 2 (99.4%). The presented results of ion flotation tests may facilitate the collective or selective separation of radioactive isotopes, i.e., Cs-137, Sr-90, Ba-133 and Co-60, from radioactive wastewater in the future. The results of the experimental work described in the article can also be used to develop individual processes for separating mixtures of radioactive isotopes (radioactive wastewater) into individual components (isotopes) and subjecting them to subsequent transformation processes. The obtained results allow us to claim that the tested organic compounds can be used in the future in the selective treatment of hazardous wastewater, which will translate into a reduction in unit costs of industrial processes. The selective recovery of individual pollutants is the basis for the next step in waste management, i.e., designing a cheap method of waste disposal, which also directly affects the economics of the process and its use in industrial conditions.

Lithium-ion batteries are currently one of the most important mobile energy storage units for portable electronics such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. Their widespread application leads to the generation of large amounts of waste, so their recycling plays an important role in environmental policy. In this work, the process of leaching with sulfuric acid for the recovery of metals from spent Li-ion batteries in the presence of glutaric acid and hydrogen peroxide as reducing agents is presented. Experimental results indicate that glutaric-acid application improves the leaching performance compared to the use of just hydrogen peroxide under the same conditions. Obtained samples of leaching residues after mixed inorganic-organic leaching were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction.

Lithium-ion batteries are currently one of the most important mobile energy storage units for portable electronics such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. Their widespread application leads to the generation of large amounts of waste, so their recycling plays an important role in environmental policy. In this work, the process of leaching with sulfuric acid for the recovery of metals from spent Li-ion batteries in the presence of glutaric acid and hydrogen peroxide as reducing agents is presented. Experimental results indicate that glutaric-acid application improves the leaching performance compared to the use of just hydrogen peroxide under the same conditions. Obtained samples of leaching residues after mixed inorganic-organic leaching were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction.