With the rapid development of the new-energy industry, efficiently recovering valuable metals such as nickel and cobalt from spent lithium batteries has become a crucial step in resource regeneration. Faced with the surging volume of retired batteries, how to efficiently, economically, environmentally extract high-value nickel and cobalt metals has become the core of industry success.
Among the various recycling technologies, solvent extraction has always been the mainstream due to its inherent advantages such as high extraction efficiency, simple operation, and recyclable extractants. Centrifugal extractor, as the core equipment of this process, is pushing hydrometallurgical recycling technology to an entirely new level with their revolutionary performance.
Why Choose Centrifugal Extraction Technology?
Compared with traditional extraction equipment such as mixer–settlers, centrifugal extractor offers unparalleled advantages in lithium-battery recycling:
1.High extraction efficiency and high recovery rates
The powerful centrifugal force generated by high-speed rotation enables instantaneous and efficient mixing and rapid separation of two-phase liquids. It boasts extremely high mass transfer efficiency, with single-stage extraction efficiency far exceeding that of traditional equipment, resulting in a stable recovery rate of over 99% for nickel and cobalt, and extremely high product purity (reaching battery-grade standards), significantly improving economic benefits.
2.Fast processing and small footprint
With short residence time and high throughput, centrifugal extractor provides much stronger processing capacity per unit time. Their compact, modular design greatly reduces plant space requirements and lowers capital investment.
3.High automation and low operating cost
The entire process can be precisely controlled, with simple operation and minimal need for manual intervention. The sealed operating environment minimizes solvent evaporation losses, and the extractant can be efficiently recycled inside the system, lowering auxiliary material consumption.
4.Safe, environmentally friendly, and highly adaptable
The fully enclosed system prevents harmful gas emissions and solvent leakage, ensuring a safer working environment. It can easily adapt to fluctuations in feed concentration, ensuring more stable and reliable operation.
Hydrometallurgical Nickel–Cobalt Extraction Process with Centrifugal Extractor
- 1.Pretreatment and Leaching
Spent lithium batteries undergo discharge, disassembly, crushing, and separation to obtain “black mass,” which is rich in nickel, cobalt, lithium, and manganese. The black mass is then leached with acid (typically a sulfuric-acid system) so that valuable metals dissolve into the solution in ionic form. - 2.Purification and Impurity Removal
The leach solution contains various impurities such as iron, aluminum, copper, and manganese. By adjusting pH, precipitation, or applying preliminary extraction steps, most impurities are removed in advance to create a clean environment for the subsequent deep separation of nickel and cobalt. - 3.Centrifugal Extraction for Nickel–Cobalt Separation
Extraction: The purified feed enters the centrifugal extractor and fully contacts the extractant formulated at a specific ratio. Under the centrifugal field, nickel and cobalt ions are efficiently and selectively extracted into the organic phase.
Scrubbing: The loaded organic phase enters the scrubbing stage, where a dilute acid removes co-extracted trace impurities, further purifying the organic phase.
Stripping: The purified loaded organic phase then enters separate nickel-stripping and cobalt-stripping stages. By precisely controlling acidity, nickel and cobalt are clearly and efficiently separated.
Organic Phase Regeneration: After stripping, the organic phase undergoes simple conditioning and is returned to the extraction stage for reuse, enabling full regeneration and recycling of the extractant. - 4.Downstream Precipitation and Crystallization
The purified nickel and cobalt solutions are individually processed through precipitation or evaporative crystallization to produce high-purity, battery-grade nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate, or other nickel–cobalt products.
Successful Application Case
A major resource-recycling technology company adopted a fully integrated multistage centrifugal extraction system as the core unit for nickel–cobalt separation in its annual 50,000-ton spent lithium-battery recycling project. The incoming black-mass feedstock was highly complex, and the leach-solution composition fluctuated significantly, placing extremely high demands on equipment stability, adaptability, and separation precision.
Solution: A complete centrifugal extraction system was designed and installed, covering extraction, scrubbing, stripping, and other process units.
Operational Performance
Recovery performance: Cobalt recovery remained ≥99.2% and nickel recovery ≥99.0%. Product purity fully met the requirements for ternary precursor material production.
Operational efficiency: The system starts up quickly, reaching equilibrium within 15 minutes. Fully automated continuous operation reduced staffing needs by more than 50%.
Economic and environmental benefits: Extractant consumption dropped by more than 30% compared with conventional processes due to efficient recycling. The sealed, leak-free system significantly improved the workshop environment.
This project has become a benchmark in the industry, demonstrating the outstanding reliability and strong economic benefits of centrifugal extraction technology in large-scale, high-end lithium-battery recycling applications.
If you have any needs for lithium battery recycling or centrifugal extraction processes, please feel free to contact Tiei Extraction.
Email: sales@tieiextraction.com
Whatsapp: +86 19069612820
