Recovery of Lanthanum and Nickel from Mixture Batteries by Sulfuric Acid Oxidation Leaching Process

Abstract

We investigated not only increase of leaching of nickel but also recovery of lanthanum from mixed with 40 wt.% Alkaline batteries, 30 wt.% Li-ion batteries, 10 wt.% Ni-MH batteries, 10 wt.% Ni-Cd batteries accordingly generated amount of spent batteries in Korea. The leaching experiments were conducted with various factors such as kind of oxidation, ratio of solid and liquid, concentration of sulfuric acid, temperature. As a result, leaching efficiency of nickel was increased up to 98% with addition of 10 vol.% H₂O₂, while not only the nickel efficiency was increased Na₂S₂O₈ up to 94% but also the lanthanum was selectively precipitated as a La(SO₄)・2Na・H₂O by addition of Na₂S₂O₈. This process is benefit for simultaneous recovery of valuable metals and rare earth metals.