Roasting-Froth Flotation Behavior of Black Mass from Spent Lithium-ion Battery

Geonwoo Lim; Hong In Kim; Jinyoung Je

doi:10.7844/kirr.2026.35.3.27

All Issue

2026 Vol.35, Issue 3 Preview Page Next Page

Research Paper

Roasting-Froth Flotation Behavior of Black Mass from Spent Lithium-ion Battery 사용 후 리튬이온배터리의 블랙매스 소성–부유선별 거동 연구

30 June 2026. pp. 27-34

PDF XML

Abstract

The rapid growth of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) industry has led to a significant increase in LIB production and consumption, resulting in growing interest in the recycling of end-of-life batteries. In this study, the selective separation of graphite and cathode active materials from spent LIB black mass was evaluated using a roasting–froth flotation process. Thermogravimetric analysis was conducted to examine the thermal behavior of organic components in the black mass, and based on these results, the pretreatment condition was determined to be 400℃ for 2 h. Froth flotation experiments were performed for both untreated and heat-treated samples to compare their separation behaviors. The results demonstrated that heat treatment markedly enhanced the difference in surface properties between anode and cathode active materials, resulting in improved separation performance. In addition, the effects of collector and frother dosages on the flotation behavior were systematically analyzed to identify the key operating parameters of the flotation process. Under optimal conditions, graphite exhibited a recovery of 89.96% with a grade of 79.20%, whereas the cathode active material achieved a recovery of 89.67% and a grade of 92.21%. This study proposes appropriate heat-treatment conditions for LIB black mass using a roasting–froth flotation process and provides fundamental data to optimize flotation conditions in future LIB recycling processes.

Keywords

Lithium-ion batteries

Black mass

Roasting-froth flotation

Graphite

Cathode materials

리튬이온배터리 산업의 성장에 따라 생산량과 사용량이 급격히 증가하고 있으며, 이에 수명이 종료된 배터리의 재활용에 대한 관심과 노력 또한 증가하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 사용 후 리튬이온배터리 블랙매스 대상으로 소성–부유선별 공정을 적용하여 흑연과 양극재의 선택적 분리 가능성을 평가하였다. 열중량분석을 통해 블랙매스 내 유기 물질 성분의 열적 거동을 분석하고, 이를 바탕으로 전처리용 열처리 조건을 400℃, 2 h로 선정하였다. 열처리 전·후 시료에 대해 부유선별 실험을 수행하여 분리 거동을 비교한 결과, 열처리를 통해 흑연과 양극재 간 표면 특성 차이가 명확히 개선됨을 확인하였다. 또한 포수제와 기포제 투입량 변화가 분리 거동에 미치는 영향을 분석하여 부유선별 공정의 주요 인자를 도출하였다. 최적 조건에서 흑연은 회수율 89.96%와 품위 79.20%를 나타냈으며, 양극재는 회수율 89.67%와 품위 92.21%를 달성하였다. 본 연구는 소성–부유선별 공정을 활용한 블랙매스 열처리 조건을 제시하며, 향후 리튬이온배터리 재활용 공정의 부유선별 조건 최적화를 위한 기초 자료를 제공한다.

키워드

리튬이온배터리

블랙매스

소성–부유선별

흑연

양극재

References

Nazari, S., Vakylabad, A., Asgari, K., et al., 2024 : Bubbles to batteries: A review of froth flotation for sustainably recycling spent lithium-ion batteries, J. Energy Storage, 84, 110702.

10.1016/j.est.2024.110702

Vanderbruggen, A., Sygusch, J., Rudolph, M., et al., 2021 : A contribution to understanding the flotation behavior of lithium metal oxides and spheroidized graphite for lithium-ion battery recycling, Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Asp., 626, 127111.

10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127111

Rinne, T., Araya-Gomez, N., Serna-Guerrero, R., 2023 : A Study on the Effect of Particle Size on Li-Ion Battery Recycling via Flotation and Perspectives on Selective Flocculation, Batteries, 9(3), 68.

10.3390/batteries9020068

Verdugo, L., Zhang, L., Etschmann, B., et al., 2024 : Spent Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Using Flotation Technology: Effect of Material Heterogeneity on Separation Performance, Processes, 12(7), 1363.

10.3390/pr12071363

Zhang, G., He, Y., Wang, H., et al., 2019 : Application of mechanical crushing combined with pyrolysis-enhanced flotation technology to recover graphite and LiCoO₂ from spent lithium-ion batteries, J. Clean. Prod., 231, pp.1418-1427.

10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.279

Sahivirta, H., Wilson, B. P., Lundstrom, M., et al., 2024 : A study on recovery strategies of graphite from mixed lithium-ion battery chemistries using froth flotation, Waste Manag., 180, pp.96-105.

10.1016/j.wasman.2024.03.032

Rieger, J., Schurz, S., Ruchet, B., et al., 2025 : Graphite Separation from Lithium-Ion Battery Black Mass Using Froth Flotation and Quality Evaluation for Reuse as a Secondary Raw Material Including Non-Battery Applications, Recycling, 10(3), 75.

10.3390/recycling10020075

Yang, X., Torppa, A., Keranlampi, K., 2021 : Evaluation of Graphite and Metals Separation by Flotation in Recycling of Li-Ion Batteries, Mater. Proc., 5, 30, The International Conference on Raw Materials and Circular Economy, Athens, Greece, 5-9 September 2021.

10.3390/materproc2021005030

Verdugo, L., Zhang, L., Saito, K., et al., 2022 : Flotation behavior of the most common electrode materials in lithium ion batteries, Sep. Purif. Technol., 301, 121885.

10.1016/j.seppur.2022.121885

Shafique, S., Khodakarami, M., Islam, M. S., et al., 2026 : Graphite surface energy descriptors and floatability from spent Li-ion batteries: The interplay of polyvinylidene fluoride binder and microwave treatment, Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Asp., 733, 139320.

10.1016/j.colsurfa.2025.139320

Folayan, T.-O., Zhan, R., Huang, K., et al., 2023 : Improved separation between recycled anode and cathode materials from Li-ion batteries using coarse flake particle flotation, ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., 11, pp.2917-2926.

10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c06311

Vanderbruggen, A., Sales, A., Ferreira, A., et al., 2022 : Improving separation efficiency in end-of-life lithium-ion batteries flotation using attrition pre-treatment, Minerals, 12(2), 72.

10.3390/min12010072

Vanderbruggen, A., Hayagan, N., Bachmann, K., et al., 2022 : Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling-Influence of Recycling Processes on Component Liberation and Flotation Separation Efficiency, ACS EST Eng., 2, pp.2130-2141.

10.1021/acsestengg.2c00177

Kim, K., Yoo, K., Kim, M., et al., 2023 : Thermogravimetric analysis of black mass components from Li-ion battery, Resour. Recycl., 32(6), pp.25-33.

10.7844/kirr.2023.32.6.25

Zhang, J., Li, J., Wang, Y., et al., 2022 : Separation of graphites and cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries using roasting-froth flotation, Sustainability, 14(23), 16037.

10.3390/su15010030

Information

Publisher :The Korean Institute of Resources Recycling
Publisher(Ko) :한국자원리싸이클링학회
Journal Title :Resources Recycling
Journal Title(Ko) :자원리싸이클링
Volume : 35
No :3
Pages :27-34
Received Date : 2026-03-06
Revised Date : 2026-03-27
Accepted Date : 2026-04-02
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7844/kirr.2026.35.3.27

Resources Recycling ISSN:2765-3439(Print) 2765-3447(Online) 자원리싸이클링

All Issue