Journal of Power Sources xxx (xxxx) xxx Please cite this article as: Xianfeng Hu, Journal of Power Sources, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2020.228936 0378-7753/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Recovery of Co, Ni, Mn, and Li from Li-ion batteries by smelting reduction - Part I: A laboratory-scale study Xianfeng Hu a, * , Elsayed Mousa a , Yang Tian b , Guozhu Ye a a SWERIM AB, Aronstorpsv¨ agen 1, SE-974 37, Luleå, Sweden b State Key Laboratory of Complex Non-ferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, PR China HIGHLIGHTS G R A P H I C A L ABSTRACT • A smelting reduction process is applied to recover Co, Ni, Mn, and Li simultaneously. • Co, Ni, and Mn are recovered as Co–Ni–Mn metal alloys. • Li could be recovered as Li 2 CO 3 , LiF, and LiCl in the flue dust. • A nearly 100% recovery of Co, Ni, Mn, and Li is attainable without a slag phase. A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Li-ion batteries Electrode materials Recycling Smelting reduction Pyrometallurgy ABSTRACT Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) contain valuable elements, which need to be recovered to sustain the production of new LIBs and reduce the use of virgin resources. In this paper, a laboratory-scale study is carried out to inves- tigate the smelting reduction behavior of electrode materials and the formation mechanism of volatile Li- containing species. The aims are to recover Co, Ni, and Mn in the metal phase and simultaneously recover lithium in the flue dust. The results from smelting reduction of chemical-grade LiCoO 2 without and with the presence of halides (CaF 2 and CaCl 2 ) indicate that component Co 2 O 3 in LiCoO 2 could be reduced to Co metal; meanwhile, component Li 2 O in LiCoO 2 could be reduced to lithium metal vapor or converted into volatile lithium halides (LiF and LiCl) and subsequently be recovered in the flue dust. The results from smelting reduction of electrode materials of spent LIBs indicate that the electrode materials can be smelted into Co–Ni–Mn alloys, and simultaneously lithium can get concentrated and recovered in the flue dust as Li 2 CO 3 and LiF. The absence of a slag allows a nearly 100% recovery of Co, Ni, and Mn in the formed alloy and a nearly 100% recovery of lithium in the flue dust. 1. Introduction Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are commonly applied in mobile elec- tronics such as cell phones, tablets, and electronic tools due to their superior electrical performance [1]. Besides those applications, more recently, LIBs start to be more widely applied in electric vehicles due to the global transformation of vehicles from fossil fuels to electric energy. LIBs have a lifespan of 3–5 years. This will lead to a vast accumulative * Corresponding author. E-mail address: xianfeng.hu@swerim.se (X. Hu). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Power Sources journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpowsour https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2020.228936 Received 25 June 2020; Received in revised form 9 August 2020; Accepted 9 September 2020