Recovery Solution for Lithium Battery Waste Electrolyte

Problem to Solve: A new energy material enterprise needed to solve the problem of low recovery rate of solvents and lithium salts in lithium battery waste electrolyte, as well as the waste of resources and environmental pollution caused by improper treatment. It was required to develop a high-efficiency recovery solution to maximize the recycling of valuable components in waste electrolyte.

Solution Implementation: The enterprise built a lithium battery waste electrolyte recovery device, using a multi-stage wiped film evaporator as the core separation equipment to realize the efficient separation and recovery of solvents and lithium salts. The key process parameters were optimized and determined: distillation temperature was controlled at 40–80℃, vacuum degree at 0–10 kPa, condensation temperature at -40~0℃, and the volume ratio of alcohol solvent to electrolyte was 0.5:1. The waste electrolyte was subjected to 3–6 stages of continuous distillation treatment through the multi-stage wiped film evaporator to gradually separate and purify carbonate solvents and lithium hexafluorophosphate.

Solution Effect: The recovery rate of carbonate solvents reached more than 95%, and the recovery rate of lithium hexafluorophosphate reached more than 98%, realizing the high-value recycling of valuable components in waste electrolyte. The annual recovery value of the solution exceeded 50 million yuan, which not only solved the environmental pollution problem caused by waste electrolyte, but also brought considerable economic benefits to the enterprise.