Recycling has become an important part of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) life cycle due to the growing demand for energy storage in applications like electric vehicles. Recycling spent LIBs provides a secondary source for strategically scarce metals, like lithium and cobalt, and reduces the environmental impact of toxic LIB waste. Citric acid has been proven to be an effective lixiviant that complexes with the LIB metals. Leaching spent laptop batteries with 1.5 M citric acid and 2 vol% H₂O₂ at 95 °C, 20 g/L for 20 min achieved 93% Al, 90% Co, 96% Li, 94% Mn, and 94% Ni dissolution. The strong chelating property of citric acid affects the separation of the metals, requiring a unique extraction. The first extraction uses 12 vol% D2EHPA at a pH of 2.5 and O/A ratio of 2 to separate 99.9% Mn and 80% of the residual Al from the citrate leach solution in three counter-current stages. The second extraction then separates 94% Li in three counter-current stages using 23 vol% D2EHPA, O/A ratio 4, and pH 5.5. Both the manganese loaded organic and the lithium loaded organic were succesfully stripped using 1.5 M citric acid as stripping agent.

由于电动汽车等应用对储能的需求不断增长，回收已成为锂离子电池 (LIB) 生命周期的重要组成部分。回收废锂离子电池为战略性稀缺金属（如锂和钴）提供了二次来源，并减少了有毒锂离子电池废物对环境的影响。柠檬酸已被证明是一种有效的浸出剂，可与 LIB 金属络合。用 1.5 M 柠檬酸和 2 vol% H ₂ O ₂浸出废笔记本电脑电池在 95 °C 下，20 g/L 20 分钟实现了 93% Al、90% Co、96% Li、94% Mn 和 94% Ni 的溶解。柠檬酸的强螯合特性影响金属的分离，需要独特的萃取。第一次提取使用 12 vol% D2EHPA，pH 为 2.5，O/A 比为 2，在三个逆流阶段从柠檬酸盐浸出溶液中分离 99.9% Mn 和 80% 的残留铝。然后使用 23 vol% D2EHPA、O/A 比率 4 和 pH 5.5，第二次萃取在三个逆流阶段中分离出 94% 的锂。使用1.5M柠檬酸作为汽提剂成功地汽提了负载锰的有机物和负载锂的有机物。