With the rapid growth of global electric vehicle ownership, the disposal and recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries have become a key issue in the fields of resource recycling and environmental protection. In the hydrometallurgical process, the solvent extraction stage directly determines the purity of the final metal salt solution and the economic efficiency of metal recovery.
Zhengzhou Tiei Extraction Technology Co., Ltd., relying on its independently developed CWL-M series centrifugal extractor, provides efficient, stable, and cost-effective liquid-liquid extraction and separation solutions for battery recycling companies worldwide, helping achieve high-quality recovery of valuable metals (nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium).

Centrifugal Extraction in Battery Recycling Processes

The recycling process of spent lithium-ion batteries usually includes: discharging and dismantling, crushing and sorting, acid leaching, purification and impurity removal, solvent extraction separation, and metal salt crystallization or electrowinning. Among these steps, the acid leaching solution (PLS, Pregnant Leach Solution, the aqueous phase enriched with metal ions) contains various metal ions, which must be separated and purified individually through solvent extraction.

The centrifugal extraction stage in the process flow:

1.Extraction Stage: The pretreated acid leachate is introduced into the CWL-M centrifugal extractor together with specific extractants (such as P204, P507, Cyanex 272, etc.) at a controlled ratio. Under the intense mixing generated by high-speed rotation, target metal ions (such as cobalt and nickel) are selectively transferred into the organic phase, while impurities remain in the aqueous phase (raffinate).

2.Scrubbing Stage: The loaded organic phase enters the scrubbing stage, where it contacts dilute acid or pure water to remove mechanically entrained impurities or co-extracted impurity ions, ensuring the cleanliness of the organic phase.

3.Stripping Stage: The purified organic phase after scrubbing is intensively mixed with high-concentration acid solutions (such as sulfuric acid) inside the centrifugal extractor. The target metals are stripped from the organic phase back into the aqueous phase, producing a high-concentration and high-purity metal salt solution, which can be directly used for precursor material synthesis.

4.Solvent Regeneration: After stripping, the organic phase is regenerated and recycled, significantly reducing extractant consumption.

CWL-M Centrifugal Extractor – Core Equipment Designed for Complex Systems

Battery leach solutions commonly present challenges such as large phase ratio variations, emulsion formation, and the requirement for multi-stage cascade operation. Traditional mixer-settlers often struggle to achieve both high efficiency and stable operation. The CWL-M series centrifugal extractor provides significant improvements for hydrometallurgical recycling through the following core technological advantages:

1.Excellent Adaptability to Wide Phase Ratios
The concentration of valuable metals in battery leach solutions varies significantly, and the process often requires operation under high organic/aqueous ratios or high aqueous/organic ratios. The CWL-M centrifugal extractor adopts a unique flow channel design and heavy-phase weir adjustment mechanism, enabling stable operation within a phase ratio range of 1/50–50/1. It effectively prevents flooding and entrainment problems, ensuring stable extraction efficiency under fluctuating operating conditions.

2.Ultra-Fast Phase Separation, Greatly Reducing Entrainment Losses
Relying on a centrifugal force field reaching hundreds to thousands of times gravity, the CWL-M centrifugal extractor achieves complete separation of the aqueous and organic phases within only a few seconds. Compared with traditional mixer-settlers (which requires tens of minutes), this feature not only significantly reduces extraction stage residence time but also decreases organic phase entrainment to below 50 ppm, effectively minimizing the loss of expensive extractants and directly reducing operating costs.

3.Fully Enclosed Structure for Safety and Environmental Protection
Battery leach solutions often contain corrosive acids and organic solvents. The CWL-M centrifugal extractor is constructed with corrosion-resistant alloys or polymer composite materials and features a fully enclosed chamber design to prevent volatile emissions. This not only ensures operator safety but also meets increasingly strict environmental protection and emission requirements.

4.Flexible Multi-Stage Cascade Solutions
For different extraction systems required for nickel, cobalt, and manganese separation (such as cobalt/nickel separation and nickel/manganese separation), the CWL-M centrifugal extractor can be flexibly configured into counter-current cascade or parallel-flow scrubbing process packages. The number of extraction stages can be customized according to customer purity requirements (normally 2–10 stages). No elevation difference is required between stages, and the footprint is only one-fifth of traditional mixer-settlers, greatly saving plant space.

5.Intelligent Control and Low Maintenance Costs
The equipment is equipped with variable-frequency speed control and automatic feed regulation systems, enabling real-time monitoring of rotational speed, flow rate, and phase interface, as well as remote operation. Meanwhile, the rotating components adopt durable bearings and mechanical seals, providing long maintenance intervals and convenient spare parts replacement to ensure long-term continuous operation of the production line.

Practical Value Delivered to Global Battery Recycling Companies

Improving Product Purity: Efficient phase separation significantly reduces mutual entrainment, lowering impurity levels in the final stripping solution to the ppm level, meeting battery-grade raw material requirements.

Increasing Metal Recovery Rate: Stable stage efficiency and extremely low organic phase loss enable the overall recovery rate to remain above 98% (depending on process conditions), reducing the waste of valuable resources.

Reducing Overall Costs: The compact design reduces construction investment, while low energy consumption and reduced chemical consumption directly lower the cost per ton of metal processed, helping customers maintain competitiveness amid fluctuating market prices.

Rapid Delivery and Technical Support: Zhengzhou Tiei Extraction Technology Co., Ltd. has extensive experience in domestic and overseas projects and provides customers with full-process services, including feasibility testing, process design, equipment installation, and commissioning.

Under the dual trends of the increasing retirement of power batteries and fluctuations in metal resource prices, equipment selection for the solvent extraction section directly determines the economic benefits and market competitiveness of recycling enterprises. With comprehensive advantages in mass transfer efficiency, separation speed, solvent entrainment control, phase ratio adaptability, and automation level, the CWL-M centrifugal extractor has become the preferred equipment for the solvent extraction section of spent lithium-ion battery hydrometallurgical recycling lines.

The CWL-M series centrifugal extractors from Zhengzhou Tiei Extraction Technology are specially designed for battery recycling and hydrometallurgical applications, providing integrated solutions from process development to industrial-scale production systems.
Email: sales@tieiextraction.com
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