Recent Advances in Hydrometallurgy for the Development of a Sustainable Production of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

International audienceIt is expected that the small world of lithium will boom due to the emergence of electric vehicles. Likewise, it is expected that the demand in cobalt and nickel will be increased by 31% and 69% between 2017 and 2030, respectively. The development of sustainable and economic processes to recover lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese from primary and secondary resources is therefore of great importance, especially because of a huge demand of these metals to produce lithium-ion batteries. This paper gives recent advances in the development of hydrometallurgical processes for the sustainability of battery raw materials