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Process for the Recovery of AB5 Alloy from Used Nickel/Metal Hydride Batteries

Active Publication Date: 2014-04-10
RETRIEV TECH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention describes a method for purifying a mixture of hydrogen storage intermetallic alloy AB5 from spent nickel metal hydride batteries and crushed batteries. The method involves crushing the batteries, screening to recover metal particles, selectively dissolving Ni(OH)2, filtering, and drying under an inert atmosphere to recover the ABS and lanthanum. The non-oxidizing non-halogenated acid is used to selectively dissolve Ni(OH)2. The technical effect of this invention is a simplified and efficient method for purifying a mixture containing hydrogen storage intermetallic alloy AB5 and recovering lanthanum from spent batteries.

Problems solved by technology

The very hard alloy is difficult to grind.
This is a very energy intensive and costly process.
This AB5 component is the most expensive raw material cost for this battery.

Method used

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Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0026]Ten Prius NIMH battery cells (1510 g) were stripped of their bus bars and plastic covers (1155 g after) were run through a hammer mill with an internal water spray and under nitrogen. The slurry was directed onto a shaker table with ¼″ slots and the slurry passed through a 25 mesh screen (72 g +25 mesh −¼″) and then through a −200 mesh screen (61 g +200 mesh / −25 mesh). The damp mat cake on the shaker table contained coarse metal pieces and weighed 262 g dry. (Pyrolysis of this mat at 280° C. under inert atmosphere gave 220 g of nickel metal powder and pieces for recovery.) The −200 mesh slurry was filtered to reduce the water content and dried under vacuum. This mixed electrode cake consisting of AB5 metal powder and nickel hydroxide cathode material weighed 564 g dry. (All steps were processed under nitrogen when possible.) The dry cake contained 12% lanthanum which serves as marker for the purity of the AB5 which contains about 25%-26% lanthanum. This cake was about 48% AB5 ...

example 2

[0028]A slurry of 80 g of the electrode mix (12% La) was slurried in 200 ml of water with high speed mixing under nitrogen. (Calculated to contain 41.6 g nickel hydroxide-0.45 moles). The slurry was adjusted to pH 5 with sulfuric acid and then 78 g (70%) glycolic acid (85% of theory) was slowly added with only slight warm up. The stifling was maintained four hours and then the slurry was allowed to settle only enough to allow the dense AB5 to settle but to keep the fine brown gelatinous binder particles suspended. The total solution and binder were decanted off. This was repeated three times. The AB5 was isolated by filtration and drying under vacuum and finally screening through −325 mesh. A magnet was used to remove any nickel metal fines which may still be present. The La was 25% with 0.89% oxygen and the yield was 26 g which was 68% based on the calculated amount in the cake.

example 3

[0029]A slurry of 80 g of the electrode mix (12% La) was slurried in 200 ml of water with high speed mixing under nitrogen. (Calculated to contain 41.6 g nickel hydroxide-0.45 moles). The slurry was adjusted to pH 5 with sulfuric acid and then 64 g glycolic acid (70% of theory) was slowly added with only slight warm up. The stirring was maintained four hours and then the slurry was allowed to settle only enough to allow the dense AB5 to settle but keeping the fine brown gelatinous binder particles suspended. The total solution and binder were decanted off. This was repeated three times. The AB5 was isolated by filtration and drying under vacuum and finally screening through −325 mesh. A magnet was used to remove any nickel metal fines which may still be present. The La was 25% with 0.99% oxygen and the yield was 29 g which was 76% based on the calculated amount in the cake.

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Abstract

There is provided a process for recovering AB5 alloy from spent nickel hydride storage batteries and / or their cells without thermal melting or dissolving the AB5 alloy. The process comprises a step of dissolving the Ni(OH)2 and separating AB5 alloy and still containing the lanthanum metal.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001]The present invention relates to the recovery of AB5 alloy from spent nickel / metal hydride (NIMH) storage batteries and / or the electrode cells. More particularly, there is provided a process for the selective recovery of AB5 alloy from NIMH storage batteries without thermal melting or dissolving the AB5 alloy into solution.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]There are a number of processes described in the literature and patents for recycling NIMH batteries to recover the valuable nickel values contained in them as nickel metal grid, nickel plated foil, the nickel hydroxide in the cathode with some cobalt hydroxide and the nickel metal powder present in the anode as a nickel metal alloy with rare earth metals. Up to now the recovery processes have focused only on the nickel values which allowed for direct smelting of these batteries in furnaces as part of the feed for making high nickel alloys. The rare earth metals react under these conditions to form the ...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C22B1/00
CPCC01B3/0068C22B1/005C22B7/007C22B23/00C22B59/00H01M4/242H01M4/385H01M10/54Y02E60/10Y02E60/32Y02P10/20Y02W30/84
Inventor SMITH, W. NOVISSWOFFER, SCOTT
Owner RETRIEV TECH
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