Electrolytic nikel recovery from lithium-ion batteries.

The active cathode material of Li-ion batteries are currently constituted by Lithium Cobalt Nickel Oxide (LiCoxNi1-xO2, 0<x<1); therefore the direct Ni recovery by electrochemical methods from leach liquor obtained by active past dissolution is not possible because of cobalt anomalous co-deposition. After separating Ni from Co by SX methods, nickel has been recovered by means of both galvanostatic and potentiostatic electrowinning. Operative conditions such as solution pH, temperature, Ni concentration, bath agitation and, in the case of galvanostatic operation, current density have been determined for the selected cathode and anode material.