Lithium Battery Slurry Recovery via Centrifugal Spray Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for recovering waste lithium battery slurry, particularly those involving centrifugal separation and flocculation filter press processes, suffer from low efficiency, small processing capacity, and the introduction of impurities, making them unsuitable for industrial application and environmentally harmful.
Innovation Solution
A centrifugal spray-drying method is introduced, which includes pretreatment steps like ball milling and sieving, followed by pH adjustment and centrifugal spray-drying, allowing for efficient separation of solid and solvent phases, and subsequent calcination to purify the cathode material powder, while also condensing and purifying the gas phase to recover NMP.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If centrifugal separation is used for solid-liquid separation, then separation is achieved, but processing efficiency is low and processing capacity is small
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the slurry treatment process into two stages: first using a screen to remove large agglomerates and foreign matters, then using a centrifugal separator for fine solid-liquid separation. This segmentation allows each device to focus on its optimal function, improving overall processing efficiency while maintaining reliable separation performance.
2Productivity
If flocculation filter press separation is used, then solid-liquid separation is achieved, but the process is complicated and impurities are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the flocculation step from the process, using only mechanical screening and centrifugal separation. This eliminates the complexity of chemical flocculation while maintaining effective solid-liquid separation and avoiding the introduction of impurities from flocculants.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If manual slurry filling is performed, then foreign matters can be removed, but treatment cost increases greatly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements a self-service system where the screen and centrifugal separator automatically remove agglomerates and foreign matters from the slurry without manual intervention. This automated approach eliminates the need for costly manual filling while effectively removing contaminants.
4Ease of operation
If waste lithium battery slurry is discarded, then handling is simplified, but environmental harm occurs
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of discarding the waste slurry, the invention recovers valuable components by separating cathode materials and NMP solvent from the slurry. This recovery process transforms waste into reusable resources, eliminating environmental harm while maintaining operational simplicity through automated processing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method significantly enhances processing efficiency, increases processing capacity, eliminates impurity introduction, simplifies operations, reduces environmental pollution, and achieves high purity of NMP recovery, making it economically viable and suitable for industrial application.
Implementation Method 1
a ball mill, to crush the slurry
Implementation Method 2
a screen, to separate foreign matters from the slurry
Implementation Method 3
performing a centrifugal spray-drying on a pretreated lithium battery slurry to separate a solid phase from a solvent
Implementation Method 4
a heating unit, to evaporate a solvent from the solid phase
Implementation Method 5
a condenser, to condense the gas phase
Data Source
AI summary
A method for recovering lithium battery slurry, the method comprising: pretreating lithium battery slurry, and then subjecting the pretreated lithium battery slurry to centrifugal spray drying to separate a solid phase and a solvent. A device for the recovery of lithium battery slurry is a centrifugal spray drying system, and comprises a spray chamber (100), a cyclone separator (200), a condenser (400), a condensate storage tank (500), and a rectification tower (600); the system improves upon original centrifugal spray drying devices, and is designed to combine the processes of centrifugal spray drying and NMP condensation recovery, such that NMP can be directly recovered after separation of positive electrode material and the NMP.