Selective recovery of metals from spent mobile phone lithium-ion batteries through froth flotation followed by magnetic separation procedure

The recycling of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (S-LIBs) has become more significant in our society, so the focus of most academic studies has been on the recovery of active battery materials. On the contrary, research on the separation of anode-cathode foils and casing metals, which are essential parts of LIBs, remained limited. To reduce costs and maximize the recovery valuable metals need to be pre-treated before chemical treatment. Therefore, the main objective of this study is the recycling of plastics and the selective production of valuable metals using a combination of physical and physicochemical methods. The results showed that most of the plastics with natural hydrophobicity could be removed with the help of a frother. After plastic flotation, the particle size, the dosages of collectors, frother, and activator were investigated and a copper concentrate assaying 53.5% Cu was obtained at the end of the copper flotation circuit. Dry magnetic separation was subjected to copper flotation tailings to separate ferromagnetic metals (Fe and Ni) from diamagnetic Al particles and the process achieved a recovery of around 99%. The proposed flowchart for the LIBs recycling industry is simple and highly efficient for the recycling of metals and plastics.