Metals recovery by supercritical CO2 processes: a focus on Li-ion battery metals extraction
Résumé
As the demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) continues to rise, recycling becomes essential to ensure a sustainable supply of critical raw materials while mitigating environmental impact. The European Union (EU) has set ambitious LIB recycling targets, emphasizing the need for innovative and cost-effective solutions. Although pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes currently dominate, emerging technologies such as supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2)-based extraction offer promising alternatives. Continued research and investment in LIB recycling infrastructures are crucial to supporting the energy transition and securing raw material independence in the coming decades. This review begins with a general overview of LIBs, their end-of-life processes, and the market and geopolitical context of LIBs and electric vehicles (EVs). It then briefly presents the interactions between CO₂ and solutes, which play a key role in determining the solubility of substances in scCO₂. In the following, the current and potential uses of scCO₂ in the field of LIBs are reviewed, with particular attention to the extraction of metal, which represents a crucial and promising application of this green technology. This focus highlights the unique features and specific challenges associated with metal recovery using scCO₂. The main parameters influencing metal extraction, such as pressure, temperature, co-solvents, and complexing agents, are discussed. Finally, recent advances in the extraction of the metals contained in cathode active materials using scCO₂ are presented.
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