Multistage leaching of metals from spent lithium ion battery waste using electrochemically generated acidic lixiviant.

Lithium ion battery (LIB) waste contains significant valuable resources that could be recovered and reused to manufacture new products. This study aimed to develop an alternative process for extracting metals from LIB waste using acidic solutions generated by electrolysis for leaching. Results showed that solutions generated by electrolysis of 0.5 M NaCl at 8 V with graphite or mixed metal oxide (MMO) electrodes were weakly acidic and leach yields obtained under single stage (batch) leaching were poor (<10%). This was due to the highly acid-consuming nature of the battery waste. Multistage leaching with the graphite electrolyte solution improved leach yields overall, but the electrodes corroded over time. Though yields obtained with both electrolyte leach solutions were low when compared to the 4 M HCl control, there still remains potential to optimise the conditions for the generation of the acidic anolyte solution and the solubilisation of valuable metals from the LIB waste. A preliminary value proposition indicated that the process has the potential to be economically feasible if leach yields can be improved, especially based on the value of recoverable cobalt and lithium.

An Analysis of Bubble Deformation by a Sphere Relevant to the Measurements of Bubble-Particle Contact Interaction and Detachment Forces.

Atomic force microscopy makes it possible to measure the interacting forces between individual colloidal particles and air bubbles, which can provide a measure of the particle hydrophobicity. To indicate the level of hydrophobicity of the particle, the contact angle can be calculated, assuming that no interfacial deformation occurs with the bubble retaining a spherical profile. Our experimental results obtained using a modified sphere tensiometry apparatus to detach submillimeter spherical particles show that deformation of the bubble interface does occur during particle detachment. We also develop a theoretical model to describe the equilibrium shape of the bubble meniscus at any given particle position, based on the minimization of the free energy of the system. The developed model allows us to analyze high-speed video captured during detachment. In the system model deformation of the bubble profile is accounted for by the incorporation of a Lagrange multiplier into both the Young-Laplace equation and the force balance. The solution of the bubble profile matched to the high-speed video allows us to accurately calculate the contact angle and determine the total force balance as a function of the contact point of the bubble on the particle surface.

A review of factors that affect contact angle and implications for flotation practice.

Contact angle and the wetting behaviour of solid particles are influenced by many physical and chemical factors such as surface roughness and heterogeneity as well as particle shape and size. A significant amount of effort has been invested in order to probe the correlation between these factors and surface wettability. Some of the key investigations reported in the literature are reviewed here. It is clear from the papers reviewed that, depending on many experimental conditions such as the size of the surface heterogeneities and asperities, surface cleanliness, and the resolution of measuring equipment and data interpretation, obtaining meaningful contact angle values is extremely difficult and such values are reliant on careful experimental control. Surface wetting behaviour depends on not only surface texture (roughness and particle shape), and surface chemistry (heterogeneity) but also on hydrodynamic conditions in the preparation route. The inability to distinguish the effects of each factor may be due to the interplay and/or overlap of two or more factors in each system. From this review, it was concluded that: Surface geometry (and surface roughness of different scales) can be used to tune the contact angle; with increasing surface roughness the apparent contact angle decreases for hydrophilic materials and increases for hydrophobic materials. For non-ideal surfaces, such as mineral surfaces in the flotation process, kinetics plays a more important role than thermodynamics in dictating wettability. Particle size encountered in flotation (10-200 microm) showed no significant effect on contact angle but has a strong effect on flotation rate constant. There is a lack of a rigid quantitative correlation between factors affecting wetting, wetting behaviour and contact angle on minerals; and hence their implication for flotation process. Specifically, universal correlation of contact angle to flotation recovery is still difficult to predict from first principles. Other advanced techniques and measures complementary to contact angle will be essential to establish the link between research and practice in flotation.

Determination of aliphatic amines in mineral flotation liquors and reagents by high-performance liquid chromatography after derivatization with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan.

The method described here fulfils the need for a suitable analytical method to determine the concentrations of single and mixed aliphatic amines in the range from hexylamine (C6) to octadecylamine (C18) in flotation test solutions and in commercial flotation collectors. Amines do not have a UV-vis spectrum in aqueous solution but by reacting an amine-containing solution with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan solution (chloro-NBD), derivatized products (amino-NBDs) are formed which have absorbance maxima at 470nm. Excess chloro-NBD and the amino-NBDs can be separated from each other by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and their concentrations measured with a UV-vis detector. Important variables in the derivatization stage are pH, temperature, chloro-NBD concentration, and reaction time, all of which interact with each other. A three-stage statistical procedure was used to determine the optimum conditions. In each stage, an 8-test design was used in which a high and low limit was set for each variable, and the chromatogram peak area of the derived amino-NBD was measured. The optimum derivatization conditions established were pH 8.9, chloro-NBD concentration 0.20% (w/v), temperature 70 degrees C, and reaction time 60 min. Optimum elution conditions for chromatography were an eluent containing 80% (v/v) acetonitrile in aqueous solution containing 40mM acetic acid at pH 4.5. With a flow rate of 2.0 ml/min, dodecylamine had a retention time of about 3 min, whereas octadecylamine had a retention time of 44 min. Straight-line calibration curves were obtained up to at least 200 ppm of amine in solution. The lower limit of detection was estimated to be 0.05 microM (10ppb) with a signal to noise ratio of 3. No interfering substances were found. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of solutions from an actual flotation test and to a solid commercial amine.