News

Pre-treatment operations

17/04/2024

Author: KIT

During the third semester, researchers from KIT further studied and improved the conditions for the mechanochemical transformation of black mass (BM) into metallic black mass (MBM). Since BM supplied by ACC is already in a reduced state, they focused on reducing BM supplied by TES. This BM consists mostly of NMC (lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides) cathode material and graphite, which was found to slow down the reaction kinetics. The reduction of the cathode active material by the metallic reducing agent result in the formation of the transition metals along with lithium oxide (Li₂O) and the oxide of the respective reducing agent, which can be monitored by X-ray diffraction.

In contrast to the previous two semesters, researchers switched from shaker mills to planetary mills, which enable control of the rotation speed and larger volumes that can be processed. Various parameters such as ball-to-sample ratio (BSR), ball size, total load and rotation speed were investigated to optimise for a short reaction time.

Main take-aways

In general, the higher the BSR, the more mechanical energy can be transferred per gram of powder which results in a more intense milling and a faster reaction; however, this limits the throughput. Larger balls, on the one hand, lead to higher kinetic energies. On the other hand, fewer balls are used to keep the BSR constant resulting in a lower collision frequency. The maximum rotation speed is lower to prevent damage to the grinding media.

With Calcium as the reducing agent, no reaction was achieved at all. An unfavorable combination of ductility and size of the calcium pieces seems to resist further size reduction, which is required for the reaction.

Aluminium has the advantage of being used as a current collector and is already present in the black mass. However, during the reaction, LiAlO₂ is formed, which is limiting the subsequent Li extraction efficiency in WP5. This problem can be avoided when magnesium is used as the reducing agent, which proved to be more reactive than aluminium but doesn’t form other lithium compounds than Li₂O.

Compared to the shaker mill, a higher reaction rate was observed in the planetary mill. Researcher from KIT achieved a complete conversion of the lithium transition metal oxide in the planetary mill within 3 h using Mg as the reducing agent. In a larger version of the mill, the required milling time increases to 8 hours. Here, further investigations are planned for the next months.

Read previous article on the pre-treatment operations: Pre-treatment operations: Reactive milling for the production of metallic black mass