Removal and recovery of phosphorus and fluorine in process water from water based direct physical lithium-ion battery recycling
Abstract
• Characterization of wastewater from water based direct physical lithium-ion battery recycling. • It could be clearly shown that no hydrolysis of the conducting salts takes place in this wastewater. • The conditions under which hydrolysis takes place were tested. • The wastewater has been treated to such an extent that it no longer has to be disposed of as hazardous waste. • The salts FePO 4 and CaF 2 classified as critical materials by the European Union are recovered. In the present work, the recovery of phosphorus and fluorine from process water generated in a water based direct physical recycling process of Li-ion batteries has been studied. The recycling process considered in this work produces significant amounts of process water, which is generated during the opening of the batteries by means of electro-hydraulic fragmentation and the subsequent sorting of the components in aqueous solution. This process produces between 21.6 L and 30.3 L of process water per kg of batteries with a total phosphorus and a total fluorine concentration of 60–85 mg/L and 120–470 mg/L, respectively. Currently, the process water has to be disposed of as hazardous waste. The goal is to discharge the wastewater into the sewer system. For this the total phosphorus and total fluorine concentration must be reduced. The process water is mainly contaminated by the released electrolyte consisting of organic carbonates and conducting salts. 31-P and 19-F NMR shows conclusively that no hydrolysis takes place in this process water. The phosphorus is present exclusively in the form of the complex anion PF 6 - and fluorine as F - , namely as FSI - from the conducting salt LiFSI and PF 6 - from the conducting salt LiPF 6 . In order to meet the regulatory requirements for discharge into the sewage system, 70.4% of the phosphorus and 89.3% of the fluorine must be removed. The conducting salts are hydrolyzed by adding acid and thereby phosphate and fluoride are precipitated. After critical and valuable materials are recovered the process water can be discharged into the sewer system.
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BibTeX
@article{wagnerwenz2026removal,
title = {{Removal and recovery of phosphorus and fluorine in process water from water based direct physical lithium-ion battery recycling}},
author = {Ronja Wagner-Wenz and Dharma Teja Teppala and Tobias Necke and Fabian Brückner and Axel Fabian and Daniel Horn and Johannes Woth and Jörg Zimmermann and Benjamin Balke-Grünewald and Anke Weidenkaff and Emanuel Ionescu},
journal = {Water Research},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.watres.2024.122476},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05789795v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Removal and recovery of phosphorus and fluorine in process water from water based direct physical lithium-ion battery recycling
AU - Ronja Wagner-Wenz
AU - Dharma Teja Teppala
AU - Tobias Necke
AU - Fabian Brückner
AU - Axel Fabian
AU - Daniel Horn
AU - Johannes Woth
AU - Jörg Zimmermann
AU - Benjamin Balke-Grünewald
AU - Anke Weidenkaff
AU - Emanuel Ionescu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Water Research
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122476
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05789795v1
AB - • Characterization of wastewater from water based direct physical lithium-ion battery recycling. • It could be clearly shown that no hydrolysis of the conducting salts takes place in this wastewater. • The conditions under which hydrolysis takes place were tested. • The wastewater has been treated to such an extent that it no longer has to be disposed of as hazardous waste. • The salts FePO 4 and CaF 2 classified as critical materials by the European Union are recovered. In the present work, the recovery of phosphorus and fluorine from process water generated in a water based direct physical recycling process of Li-ion batteries has been studied. The recycling process considered in this work produces significant amounts of process water, which is generated during the opening of the batteries by means of electro-hydraulic fragmentation and the subsequent sorting of the components in aqueous solution. This process produces between 21.6 L and 30.3 L of process water per kg of batteries with a total phosphorus and a total fluorine concentration of 60–85 mg/L and 120–470 mg/L, respectively. Currently, the process water has to be disposed of as hazardous waste. The goal is to discharge the wastewater into the sewer system. For this the total phosphorus and total fluorine concentration must be reduced. The process water is mainly contaminated by the released electrolyte consisting of organic carbonates and conducting salts. 31-P and 19-F NMR shows conclusively that no hydrolysis takes place in this process water. The phosphorus is present exclusively in the form of the complex anion PF 6 - and fluorine as F - , namely as FSI - from the conducting salt LiFSI and PF 6 - from the conducting salt LiPF 6 . In order to meet the regulatory requirements for discharge into the sewage system, 70.4% of the phosphorus and 89.3% of the fluorine must be removed. The conducting salts are hydrolyzed by adding acid and thereby phosphate and fluoride are precipitated. After critical and valuable materials are recovered the process water can be discharged into the sewer system.
SN - 0043-1354
SN - 1879-2448
ER -