Black Mass Cathode Material Regeneration by Metal Salt Heat Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for recycling lithium-ion battery materials from black masses are complex and costly, making them impractical for efficient resource recovery and battery production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the addition of metal salts such as Li, Ni, Co, and Mn or Al to black mass followed by heat treatment to produce an electrode active material, simplifying the process and reducing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional recycling methods are used to recover materials from black mass, then material recovery is achieved, but the process becomes complex and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple recycling operations (acid leaching, filtration, precipitation, drying) into a single integrated heat treatment step. By adding metal salts to black mass and performing heat treatment, the process achieves material recovery without the complex multi-step conventional recycling流程, thus resolving the contradiction between reliable material recovery and process complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the processing parameters from conventional low-temperature aqueous chemistry to high-temperature solid-state reaction. This parameter change transforms the complex multi-step wet chemistry process into a simpler single-step thermal process that achieves the same material recovery goal with reduced process complexity
2Reliability
If conventional recycling methods are used to recover materials from black mass, then material recovery is achieved, but the cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple expensive conventional recycling steps into a single heat treatment operation, the patent reduces equipment investment and operational costs while maintaining reliable material recovery. The simplified process requires fewer chemicals, less equipment, and lower operational complexity, directly addressing the cost issue
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential function of material recovery from the complex conventional process and achieves it through a single heat treatment step with metal salt addition. This extraction of the core function eliminates unnecessary process steps and associated costs while preserving the material recovery capability
3Device complexity
If black mass is directly used without conventional processing, then process simplicity is achieved, but electrode active material properties may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by adding metal salts to black mass before heat treatment. This preliminary addition of metal salts ensures that the necessary metal components are present in the correct proportions before the thermal reaction, guaranteeing the desired electrode active material properties while maintaining process simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
By changing to high-temperature heat treatment parameters, the patent achieves complete reaction and formation of electrode active material with proper crystal structure and properties. This parameter change ensures manufacturing precision while keeping the process simple and integrated
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 approach enables the production of a highly practical electrode active material with desired battery properties at low cost, facilitating efficient resource utilization and battery recycling.
Implementation Method 1
performing a heat treatment to react the black mass with the metal salts to produce an electrode active material
Implementation Method 2
react the black mass with the metal salts to produce an electrode active material
Data Source
AI summary
An electrode active material is produced by performing a heat treatment after adding a plurality of metal salts each including metal components that are Li, Ni, Co, and Mn or Al to a black mass obtained by processing used lithium-ion batteries, so that the black mass and the metal salts are reacted with each other. A positive active material of a lithium-ion battery is an electrode active material produced by directly using the black mass. Thus, it is possible to achieve an electrode active material, and a lithium-ion battery, which have high practicality and are capable of ensuring desired battery properties without requiring much time and effort such as recovery of metal salts from the black mass and purification of the metal salts.