Spent NiMH batteries-The role of selective precipitation in the recovery of valuable metals

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

卷:193

Article

Bertuol, Daniel Assumpcao^1,2  Bernardes, Andrea Moura²  Soares Tenorio, Jorge Alberto³ 

[1] ICET Ctr Univ Feevale, BR-93352000 Novo Hamburgo, Brazil

[2] Lacor Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, BR-91501970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Polytech Sch, Dept Met & Mat Engn, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo, Brazil

关键词: NiMH batteries;    Rare earths;    Precipitation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.05.014

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The production of electronic equipment, such as computers and cell phones, and, consequently, batteries, has increased dramatically. One of the types of batteries whose production and consumption has increased in recent times is the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery. This study evaluated a hydrometallurgical method of recovery of rare earths and a simple method to obtain a solution rich in Ni-Co from spent NiMH batteries. The active materials from both electrodes were manually removed from the accumulators and leached. Several acid and basic solutions for the recovery of rare earths were evaluated. Results showed that more than 98 wt.% of the rare earths were recovered as sulfate salts by dissolution with sulfuric acid, followed by selective precipitation at pH 1.2 using sodium hydroxide. The complete process. precipitation at pH 1.2 followed by precipitation at pH 7, removed about 100 wt.% of iron and 70 wt.% of zinc from the leaching solution. Results were similar to those found in studies that used solvent extraction. This method is easy, economic, and does not pose environmental threats of solvent extraction. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free