Crack the dilemma of lithium electric waste: High temperature cracking technology leads the new era of green circular economy In the context of the new energy automobile industry entering the fast lane, China's lithium battery industry is experiencing unprecedented expansion.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2023, China's lithium battery shipments have exceeded 600GWh, accounting for 52% of the global market share, and the installed capacity of power batteries has ranked first in the world for five consecutive years. But behind this brilliant achievement is the environmental pressure brought about by more than 500,000 tons of decommissioned lithium batteries every year. With the in-depth implementation of the "Management Measures for the Recycling and Utilization of New Energy Vehicle Power Batteries", the physical recovery technology with high temperature cracking furnaces as the core is reshaping the new pattern of battery material waste treatment. I. Lithium waste: heavy metals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese in the cathode material of the dormant "environmental bomb" lithium battery, and organic solvents such as lithium hexafluorophosphate in the electrolyte may cause serious ecological disasters in the improper disposal process. Research from the School of the Environment of Tsinghua University pointed out that if each ton of decommissioned lithium iron phosphate batteries are simply disassembled, about 0.8 tons of fluorine-containing organic waste gas will be released, causing irreversible pollution to soil and groundwater. The traditional hydrometallurgical process has some problems, such as low recovery efficiency and serious secondary pollution, and can not meet the increasingly strict environmental protection requirements. Facing this challenge, the LF-GP series high temperature cracking furnace independently developed by Henan Xinxiang Lifeldt Filter Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as Lifeldt) can achieve a decomposition rate of 99.5% of battery materials by accurately controlling the cracking temperature (500-800 ° C) and residence time (2-3 hours).
The device uses an innovative three-stage cracking process to decompose the battery into metal oxides, graphite powder and organic gases in an oxygen-isolated environment, creating ideal conditions for subsequent precious metal recovery. Second, technological breakthroughs: From "garbage" to the rebirth of resources, Liefert's cracking furnace system integrates a number of core technologies: the rotary cracking reactor improves the cracking uniformity through dynamic material mixing, and the original quenching acid removal device can reduce the cracking temperature to below 200 ° C in 0.5 seconds, effectively preventing dioxin generation. The NMP solvent recovery system can increase the recovery rate of organic solvents in the electrolyte to more than 95% and realize the recycling of resources. In the industrial application of a power battery recycling base in Guangdong, the LF-GP1200 cracking furnace has a daily processing capacity of 12 tons, and the energy consumption per ton of materials is reduced by more than 30%. The copper foil and aluminum foil produced by cracking can be directly reused for battery production, and the recovery rate of cobalt and lithium metal is increased by 8-10 percentage points compared with the traditional process. The person in charge of the enterprise revealed that the economic benefits of disposing of decommissioned batteries per ton can be more than 3,000 yuan through the equipment, which truly realizes the win-win situation of environmental benefits and economic benefits. Third, industrial chain collaboration: Build a green ecological closed loop Lifelte is cooperating with Ningde Times, BYD and other leading enterprises to build a "battery production - use - recycling" life cycle management system. Its newly developed intelligent cracking system can realize remote monitoring and parameter optimization of the production process through the Internet of Things technology, and the detection error of precious metal grade in the cracking residue has been controlled within 0.2%. In the demonstration plant in Xinxiang, Henan Province, the cracking furnace and the hydrometallurgical system achieve seamless connection, forming a complete industrial chain of "physical decomposition - chemical purification - material recycling". With the promotion of the "14th Five-Year" circular economy Development Plan, high temperature cracking technology is expected to become the mainstream process of lithium battery recycling. Experts predict that by 2025, the domestic cracking furnace market will exceed 5 billion yuan, and pioneers such as Lifeldt are constantly expanding the application boundary through technological innovation. Its newly launched mobile cracker, which can carry out distributed processing in remote areas, provides a new solution to solve the "last mile" problem of power battery recycling. Standing at the historical node of carbon neutrality, technological innovation represented by high temperature cracking furnaces is transforming lithium electric waste into a new kinetic energy for green development. Liefert Filter Co., Ltd. has proved through practice that through technological innovation and industrial collaboration, it is completely possible to convert "environmental liabilities" into "ecological assets" and provide Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for the sustainable development of the global new energy industry. This quiet green revolution is quietly reshaping the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature.
