The Recycling of Plastics and Current Collector Foils from End-of-Life NMC-LCO Type Electric Vehicle Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Selective Froth Flotation

The recent increase in end-of-life (EoL) lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) has become a significant concern worldwide. Most studies in the literature have primarily focused on recovering cathode active metals from black mass (BM), whereas the separation of anode–cathode foils, plastics, and casing metals which are the essential components of LiBs has received relatively little attention. To reduce costs and maximize the recovery of valuable metals in subsequent hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical processes, EoL LiBs require appropriate pre-treatment. This study aims to scrape off the BM adhering to the electrode foils resulting from gradual crushing and subsequently separate the plastics and copper (Cu) from other metals through a two-step selective flotation process. The results demonstrated that plastics, due to their natural hydrophobicity, could be effectively removed using a frother, achieving more than 95% recovery with less than 5% metallic contamination. Following plastic flotation, Cu particles were floated in the presence of 3418A, yielding a Cu concentrate containing 65.13% Cu with a recovery rate of 96.4%. Additionally, the aluminum (Al) content in the non-floating material, remaining in the cell, increased to approximately 77%.