| 초록 |
An issue that is emerging in line with the recent increase in demand for electric vehicles is the increase in spent lithium-ion battery emissions. As the importance of the cathode material (LiNiCoMnO2, hereafter NCM) in the spent Li-ion battery increases, pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy is currently used to leach out metals from cathodes. However, both methods are not environmentally sustainable and consequently cause another environmental destructive problem. Here, using microorganisms, which is a novel sustainable approach, we successfully decomposed the NCM cathode. Unlike previous studies conducted under acidic conditions, this study was conducted under neutral conditions (PH=7.5), reduced cathode material with various particle sizes and surface area by a microbe. According to the experimental results, we found that about 40% of the cathode material was reduced in this study, and it would mean deriving a new method for recovering metals from cathodes in the spent Li-ion battery through an environmentally friendly and sustainable pathway. |
