Spent Zn-Mn button cells are one of the fastest-growing battery waste streams containing considerable amounts of Zn (12–28% (w/w)) and Mn (26–45% (w/w)) that could be considered as a potential industrially demanded source of Mn and Zn. However, due to the very toxic, stable, and refractory nature of the button cell batteries, applying microbial leaching for metal extraction from spent batteries is limited. In this regard, this study focused on detoxicate, enriching, and mobilizing major elements through thermal treatment assisted by acidic bioleaching. It was witnessed after thermal pretreatment of BCBs powder at 600 °C, the A. ferrooxidans could tolerate up to 20 g/L BCBs containing a high concentration of Mn and Zn by serial step-wise adaptation process. The use of thermal pretreatment increased by 76% and 75% extraction yields of Mn and Zn compared with the results obtained using un-thermally pretreated BCBs powder. The result indicated that 95% of zinc and 91% manganese were efficiently extracted from thermally pretreated BCBs. A. ferrooxidans and Fe³⁺ play an important role to improve Mn and Zn extraction efficiency. The structural and morphological analyses showed that the proposed approach could successfully overcome spent button cell batteries complexities and extract most of the major metals.

废锌锰纽扣电池是增长最快的电池废物流之一，含有大量的锌（12-28% (w/w)）和锰（26-45% (w/w)），可被视为潜在的工业需求的锰和锌来源。然而，由于纽扣电池的毒性、稳定性和难熔性，将微生物浸出用于从废电池中提取金属是有限的。在这方面，本研究的重点是通过酸性生物浸出辅助的热处理对主要元素进行解毒、富集和动员。在 600 °C 下对 BCBs 粉末进行热预处理后，发现了A. ferrooxidans通过连续逐步适应过程，可以耐受高达 20 g/L 含有高浓度 Mn 和 Zn 的 BCBs。与使用未经热处理的 BCBs 粉末获得的结果相比，使用热预处理的 Mn 和 Zn 提取率分别提高了 76% 和 75%。结果表明，95% 的锌和 91% 的锰从热预处理的 BCB 中有效提取。A. ferrooxidans和 Fe ³⁺对提高 Mn 和 Zn 的提取效率有重要作用。结构和形态分析表明，所提出的方法可以成功克服用过的纽扣电池的复杂性并提取大部分主要金属。