Anna Vanderbruggen

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf | HZDR · Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology

With the constant growth in portable electronic devices and the expected market growth for electric vehicles, the demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is booming. The raw materials production with a combination of mining and recycling will be essential and unavoidable to meet the upcoming demand for LIBs. Consequently, the European authority is...

In Europe, an era of battery recycling is shaping new industries as spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are considered, in addition to mining, as a potential source of battery raw materials with a high prospect of environmental and economic incentives. Several recycling routes are being proposed combining hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy technique...

Recycling is a potential solution to narrow the gap between the supply and demand of raw materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the efficient separation of the active components and their recovery from battery waste remains a challenge. This paper evaluates the influence of three potential routes for the liberation of LIB components (...

One of the main tasks to ensure the secure supply of critical raw materials is the efficient recovery and recycling of secondary resources. Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are the key technology nowadays and in the future to enable the human energy revolution. Therefore, the recycling of spent LIBs is of great interest. A major challenge in spent LIBs...

Graphite – natural or synthetic – is the most dominant active material used for LIB anodes [1] . Natural graphite, however, is considered a critical material within the EU [2] , while synthetic graphite is obtained from coke [3] – a carbon precursor produced from coal or petroleum. Therefore, efficient recycling and reuse of graphite are essential...

This presentation was held on the German greenBatt Research Cluster funded by Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the project ecoLiga. In detail, the latest progress within the cooperation especially in terms of graphite extraction by flotation and solution purification is discussed. Especially, the flotation performed by HIF in Dresden...

This paper investigates one aspect of surface air nucleation in froth flotation, namely the impact of frother-type surfactants like Methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC). During this study, tap water was pressurized in an autoclave to produce air-oversaturated water for air nucleation precondition in flotation. Various experiments were carried out with g...

Recycling symposium This talk presents how we can separate the fine active particles (lithium metal oxides and graphite) from the black mass by using froth flotation. This research demonstrates that graphite can be recovered from spent lithium ion batteries and recycled into new anodes

Spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) contain critical raw materials that need to be recovered and recirculated into the battery supply chain. This work proposes the joint recovery of graphite and lithium metal oxides (LMOs) from pyrolyzed black mass of spent LIBs using froth flotation. Since flotation is a water-intensive process, the quality of the...

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) plays a key role in achieving sustainable and climate-neutral economy. With the growing demand for LIBs, a tremendous increase in battery raw materials supply such as Li, Co, Ni and graphite has to be anticipated. In addition, with increasing amount of LIBs being put into the market, the accumulation of spent LIBs is in...

The comminution of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) produces a powder containing the active cell components, commonly referred to as “black mass.” Recently, froth flotation has been proposed to treat the fine fraction of black mass (<100 �m) as a method to separate anodic graphite particles from cathodic lithium metal oxides (LMOs). So far, pyrol...

Mechanical recycling processes aim to separate particles based on their physical properties, such as size, shape and density, and physico-chemical surface properties, such as wettability. Secondary materials, including electronic waste, are highly complex and heterogeneous, which complicates recycling processes. In order to improve recycling effici...

The treatment of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using froth flotation has recently gained interest as a method to separate valuable lithium transition-metal oxides (LMOs) and graphite particles from the so-called “black mass” mixture. However, the flotation mechanisms of the cathode active particles have not been properly discussed so far...

Talk at AABC Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The black mass is the fine fraction from spent lithium-ion battery (LiB) recycling process. In this study, the batteries have been pyrolysed and crushed. The fraction below 100 μm is composed by a mixture of cathode active particles composed of metal oxides and anode active particles, which are spheroidized graphite. This fraction has an important...

Poster for MEI Process Mineralogy' 18 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The lithium ion battery (LiB) market is growing rapidly. Consequently LiB wastes will increase in the future and LiB components such as Co, Li, but also graphite, are forecast to be critical materials. These critical materials are contained in the black mass produced by LiBs recycling. This original research focuses on graphite beneficiation from c...

The lithium ion battery (LiB) market is growing exponentially, and consequently LiB wastes will grow in the future. Some LiB components such as Co, Li, but also graphite, are forecasted to be critical materials (Mathieux et al., 2017). Currently, there is no graphite recycling process from spent LiBs, and graphite usually remains in the slags. Chin...