Spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) contain critical raw materials that need to be recovered and recirculated into the battery supply chain. This work proposes the joint recovery of graphite and lithium metal oxides (LMOs) from pyrolyzed black mass of spent LIBs using froth flotation. Since flotation is a water-intensive process, the quality of the aqueous phase directly impacts its performance. In pursuit of an improved water-management strategy, the effect of process water recirculation on black mass flotation is also investigated. The fine fraction (<90 µm) of the black mass from pyrolyzed and crushed spent LIBs was used. After flotation, 85% of the graphite in the overflow product and 80% of the LMOs in the underflow product were recovered. After flotation with 8 wt% solids, the process water contained about 1,000 mg/L Li and accumulated up to 2,600 mg/L Li after three cycles. The flotation with process water showed no significant impact on the recovery and grade of flotation products, suggesting the feasibility of water recirculation in black mass flotation.

废锂离子电池 (LIB) 包含需要回收并再循环到电池供应链中的关键原材料。这项工作提出了使用泡沫浮选从废 LIB 的热解黑色块中联合回收石墨和锂金属氧化物 (LMO)。由于浮选是一个耗水量大的过程，水相的质量直接影响其性能。为了追求改进的水管理策略，还研究了工艺水再循环对黑色物质浮选的影响。使用来自热解和压碎的废 LIB 的黑色物质的细小部分 (<90 µm)。浮选后，溢流产物中 85% 的石墨和底流产物中 80% 的 LMO 被回收。用 8 wt% 的固体浮选后，工艺水含有约 1、000 mg/L Li，三个循环后累积高达 2,600 mg/L Li。工艺用水浮选对浮选产品的回收率和品位没有显着影响，表明黑体浮选中水循环的可行性。