A novel closed-loop biotechnology for recovery of cobalt from a lithium-ion battery active cathode material

In recent years, the demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been increasing rapidly. Conventional recycling strategies (based on pyro- and hydrometallurgy) are damaging for the environment and more sustainable methods need to be developed. Bioleaching is a promising environmentally friendly approach that uses microorganisms to solubilize metals. However, a bioleaching-based technology has not yet been applied to recover valuable metals from waste LIBs on an industrial scale. A series of experiments was performed to improve metal recovery rates from an active cathode material (LiCoO2; LCO). (i) Direct bioleaching of ≤0.5 % LCO with two prokaryotic acidophilic consortia achieved >80 % Co and 90 % Li extraction. Significantly lower metal recovery rates were obtained at 30 °C than at 45 °C. (ii) In contrast, during direct bioleaching of 3 % LCO with consortia adapted to elevated LCO levels, the 30 °C consortium performed significantly better than the 45 °C consortium, solubilizing 73 and 93 % of the Co and Li, respectively, during one-step bioleaching, and 83 and 99 % of the Co and Li, respectively, during a two-step process. (iii) The adapted 30°C consortium was used for indirect leaching in a low-waste closed-loop system (with 10 % LCO). The process involved generation of sulfuric acid in an acid-generating bioreactor (AGB), 2-3 week leaching of LCO with the biogenic acid (pH 0.9), selective precipitation of Co as hydroxide, and recirculation of the metal-free liquor back into the AGB. In total, 58.2 % Co and 100 % Li were solubilized in seven phases, and >99.9 % of the dissolved Co was recovered after each phase as a high-purity Co hydroxide. Additionally, Co nanoparticles were generated from the obtained Co-rich leachates, using Desulfovibrio alaskensis, and Co electrowinning was optimized as an alternative recovery technique, yielding high recovery rates (91.1 and 73.6% on carbon felt and roughened steel, respectively) from bioleachates that contained significantly lower Co concentrations than industrial hydrometallurgical liquors. The closed-loop system was highly dominated by the mixotrophic archaeon Ferroplasma and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria Acidithiobacillus caldus and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans. The developed system achieved high metal recovery rates and provided high-purity solid products suitable for a battery supply chain, while minimizing waste production and the inhibitory effects of elevated concentrations of dissolved metals on the leaching prokaryotes. The system is suitable for scale-up applications and has the potential to be adapted to different battery chemistries.