Reaction mechanism of antibiotic bacteria residues as a green reductant for highly efficient recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries

Highlights: • ABRs was used as a novel green reductant for the recycling of spent LIBs. • CaC2O4 and reducing sugar in ABRs play a synergistic reduction effect. • About 99.0% of valuable metals can be recovered under the reduction of ABRs. • Acid leaching residue can be regenerated as lithium ion anode materials. • The whole process realize the guidance of waste management by waste. In this study, antibiotic bacteria residues (ABRs) is proposed as a novel green reducing agent and it is found that the reducing agent can realize the efficient recovery of the valuable metals in spent cathode powder (SCP), reduce the environmental pollution and realize the high-value utilization of the biomass waste. The leaching efficiency of Ni, Co, Mn and Li can reach 99.57%, 98.50%, 98.99% and 99.90% respectively under the optimal conditions of 3 mol L⁻¹ H₂SO₄, mass ratio of ABRs to SCP of 0.8:1, liquid/solid ratio of 30:1 mL g⁻¹, the temperature of 363 K and time of 2.5 h. Leaching kinetics results shows that the reaction process is controlled by the chemical reaction with apparent activation energy exceeding than 40 kJ/mol. More importantly, the detailed ABRs leaching mechanism is proposed that the metabolite of CaC₂O₄ and reducing sugar in ABRs provide a synergistic reduction effect on the recovery of valuable metals. Furthermore, acid leaching residue can be regenerated to obtain lithium-ion anode materials with excellent electrochemical properties. The entire process is a sustainable green recycling strategy by using waste ABRs waste to treat spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), recovering valuable metals efficiently and minimizing environmental pollution.