Process Flow and Equipment for Crushing and Sorting Waste Lithium-ion Battery Cathodes

Battery cathode recycling refers to the collection of used battery and lithium-ion battery production scraps to prevent them from entering ecosystems and causing environmental harm. The waste positive electrode cathode black powder of waste lithium-ion batteries contains a large amount of valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, and manganese. If these materials are casually discarded, not only will it cause serious resource wastage, but it will also pose a huge threat to our living environment. Currently, most battery cathode recycling methods involve crushing machines, multi-stage crushing, multi-stage cyclone separation, vibration screening, and conveying through belts.

The positive electrode cathodes are pulverized by a crushing machine, and the material is then subjected to a cyclone separator to separate the pulverized material. The separated solid material is transported to the first vibrating screen for vibration screening. The first vibrating screen has mesh holes that are compatible with the size of the collected positive electrode black powder. After screening, the powder is collected into a collector under the first vibrating screen. Any remaining coarse material drops into a grinder feedthrough where it is ground into smaller particles. Then, the particle mixture is collected by a second cyclone separator. The subsequently separated solid material is transported to the second vibrating screen for further vibration screening.

The mesh sizes of the second vibrating screen increase from bottom to top, and the mesh hole at the end is the same size as the one in the first vibrating screen. The second vibrating screen has four output ports from top to bottom, which sieve out large debris, semi-finished aluminum particles, finished aluminum particles containing adherent positive electrode black powder, mixtures of small impurities and larger debris. The positive electrode black powder removed by the sieve falls into a collector. The composite mixtures of fine impurities and finished aluminum particles containing adherent positive electrode black powder fall into the third vibrating screen. The second vibrating screen's top output port sieves out large debris and is collected by a separate third collector.

The mesh sizes of the third vibrating screen increase from bottom to top, similar to the previous vibrating screens. The material is transported out through three output ports from top to bottom that sieve out small debris, aluminum powder, and mixtures of fine impurities and positive electrode black powder. The positive electrode black powder removed by the sieve falls into a collector. Meanwhile, the composite mixtures of fine impurities and aluminum powder are subsequently absorbed and separated by a third cyclone separator. The solid materials collected in this process are then sent to a wind selector, which separates aluminum powders and fine impurities. Aluminum powders are collected into a second container, while fine impurities are collected in a third container.

The connection between the various devices in the positive cathode recycling system has good sealing properties and is clean and environmentally friendly. The multi-stage dust collection system effectively absorbs and separates materials, resulting in a high efficiency for battery recycling processing and metal recovery. This process conserves resources and prevents waste while also producing high-purity products with minimal impurities. Additionally, the positive electrode recycling system has a high processing capacity, yet it does not require a significant construction site due to multiple dust collectors transporting and separating materials within pipelines.