Ultrasound-assisted efficient and convenient method of extracting valuable metals (Ni, Co, and Cd) from waste Ni-Cd batteries using DL-malic acid.

Recycling waste Ni-Cd batteries has received much attention recently because of the serious environmental pollution they cause and to avoid the dissipation of valuable metals. Despite significant research, it is still difficult to efficiently recycle valuable and hazardous metals from waste Ni-Cd batteries in an economical and environmentally friendly manner. This study employed a novel process utilizing ultrasound-assisted leaching to recover Ni, Cd, and Co from waste nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries. Organic DL-malic acid served as the leaching agent and H2O2 was employed as an oxidizing agent. The effects of various factors on the recovery efficiency of Ni, Cd, and Co, such as leaching temperature, time, DL-malic acid concentration, pulp density, H2O2 concentration, and ultrasound frequency, were also examined. To predict the chemical compounds present before and after the recycling experiments, the solid residues from the metal extraction were analyzed using XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, and EDS element mapping. Concurrently, ICP-OES was utilized to determine the metal content in the leachate. Under optimized conditions of 90 °C, 90 min, 2M DL-malic acid, 160 mL/g pulp density, and 20% ultrasound frequency, over 83% of Ni, 94% of Cd, and 98% of Co were effectively leached from the waste Ni-Cd battery powder. The leaching kinetics of Ni, Cd, and Co followed the surface chemical reaction control model. The activation energies (Ea) for Ni, Cd, and Co leaching were 21.34, 20.47, and 18.38 kJ/mol, respectively. The findings suggest that ultrasound-assisted leaching is an efficient, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and sustainable alternative for extracting precious and hazardous metals from waste Ni-Cd batteries. Additionally, it reduces industrial chemical usage and enhances waste management sustainability.

Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in School Playground Soils in Urban Gwangju, South Korea.

Soil samples from school playground of Gwangju City were analyzed for 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the soil contamination status and the potential cancer risk for students and adults were investigated. Soil samples were collected from 57 sites from 5 districts of Gwangju City in the summer of 2013. Regardless of the sampling site, the ∑PAHs concentrations ranged from 13.2 to 145.5 ng/g (mean 51.2 ng/g). Four and five-ring PAHs were predominant in the soil samples while the fraction of two-ring PAHs was the lowest. Seven carcinogenic PAHs contributed ~ 55% of ∑PAHs in school playground soils. The benzo[a]pyrene (46.4%) and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (41.2%) were the major contributors to toxic equivalent quantity. The strong correlation between carcinogenic PAHs suggested that they originated from the same source either vehicular emission or coal combustion, because they are markers of these pollution sources. The mean cancer risk for students (3.61 × 10-7) and adults (8.41 × 10-6) was in the U.S. EPA safety range (< 10-6).

Recycling of NCM cathode material from spent lithium-ion batteries via polyvinyl chloride and chlorinated polyvinyl chloride in subcritical water: A comparative study.

To date, numerous studies have explored recycling of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese (NCM) from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Nevertheless, the leaching and efficient separation of the precious metals from NCM active cathode material via an environmentally benign and economical process is still challenging. Therefore, in this research, we present a novel and energy an efficient route through which to leach valuable metals, for example, lithium (Li), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and manganese (Mn) from the NCM cathode material of the waste LIBs using water-containing waste chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in a batch reactor. Parameters such as temperature, time, liquid-solid, and mass ratios on the extraction efficiencies of Li, Ni, Co, and Mn were carefully examined. The outcomes show that CPVC performed better than PVC for the extraction of valuable metals from NCM material, and this was attributed to its high Cl contents. The maximum extraction efficiencies of Li, Ni, Co, and Mn (99.15%, 98.10%, 99.30%, and 100%, respectively) were achieved under optimized reaction conditions: a temperature of 290 °C, reaction time of 1 h, a liquid-solid ratio 60:1 mL/g and solid to solid mass ratio of 1:3. The apparent activation energies (Ea) for Li, Ni, Co, and Mn were computed to be (24.42, 28.85, 29.67, and 28.79) kJ/mol. The results obtained in this work, indicated that it may contribute to efforts aiming to reduce industrial chemical consumption and increase sustainability in waste management technique.

Rapid leaching and recovery of valuable metals from spent Lithium Ion batteries (LIBs) via environmentally benign subcritical nickel-containing water over chlorinated polyvinyl chloride.

This study presents the development of an effective and environmentally friendly method to leach and to recover valuable metals, such as lithium (Li) and cobalt (Co) from the spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) using subcritical water assisted by nickel catalyst and waste chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC). The effects of reaction parameters, such as Ni2+ concentration, temperature, time, and liquid-solid ratio on the leaching efficiencies of Li and Co were carefully investigated. The solid residues obtained thereof were characterized by XRD and SEM-EDS analyses, while the leachates were analyzed by ICP-OES. The ICP-OES results showed that about 99.05% of Li and 98.08% of Co were effectively leached from the spent LiCoO2 powder under the following optimized reaction conditions: temperature of 240 °C, reaction time of 40 min, Ni2+ concentration of 0.04 M, and the liquid-solid ratio of 25:1 mL/g, respectively. Finally, based on the precipitation method, the Li and Co were recovered from the leachate as Li2CO3 and Co(OH)2. The results and the method applied in this research suggest that the leaching and recovery of Li and Co from the spent LIBs using subcritical nickel-containing water is an inexpensive, efficient, sustainable and eco-friendly technology.

Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) assisted leaching of lithium and cobalt from spent lithium-ion battery in subcritical water.

The objective of this study was to determine leaching efficiency of Li and Co from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by using waste chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) in hydrothermal subcritical water process. Waste CPVC was used as the source of HCl to speed up leaching efficiency. Effects of temperature, time, LiCoO2: CPVC mass ratio and liquid-solid ratio on leaching efficiencies of Li and Co were investigated. Solid residues were characterized by XRD and SEM-EDS elemental mapping to predict chemical compounds remained after leaching. Results showed that more than 98.71 % of Li and 97.69 % of Co were effectively leached from LiCoO2 powder under the following conditions: temperature of 250 °C, reaction time of 60 min, and LiCoO2: CPVC mass ratio of 1:3. Results of this study suggest that recovery of Li and Co from spent LIBs using hydrothermal subcritical water is an efficient, environmental friendly and sustainable technology.

Remediation approach for organic compounds and arsenic co-contaminated soil using the pressurized hot water extraction process.

Successful remediation of soil with co-existing organics contaminants and arsenic (As) is a challenge as the chemical and remediation technologies are different for each group of pollutants. In this study, the treatment effectiveness of the pressurized hot water (PHW) extraction process was investigated for remediation of soil co-contaminated with phenol, crude oil, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and As. An elimination percentage of about 99% was achieved for phenol, and in the range of 63-100% was observed for the PAHs at 260°C for 90 min operation. The performance of PHW extraction in the removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons was found to be 86%. Of the 87 mg/kg of As in untreated soil, 67% of which was eliminated after treatment. The removal of organic contaminants was mainly via desorption, dissolution and degradation in subcritical water, while As was eliminated probably by oxidation and dissolution of arsenic-bearing minerals. According to the experimental results, the PHW extraction process can be suggested as an alternative cleaning technology, instead of using any organic solvents for remediation of such co-contaminated soil.

Heavy metal stabilization in contaminated soil by treatment with calcined cockle shell.

In several previous studies, the efficacy of various liming waste materials on the immobilization of heavy metals has been tested and it was found that soils contaminated with heavy metals can be stabilized using this technique. Since lime (CaO) has been identified as the main phase of calcined cockle shell (CCS), it was hypothesized that CCS could be used as a soil amendment to immobilize heavy metals in soil. However, to date, no studies have been conducted using CCS. In this study, the effectiveness of CCS powder on the immobilization of Cd, Pb, and Zn in mine tailing soil was evaluated. After 28 days of incubation, the treated soil samples were exposed to weathering (four cycles of freezing-thawing and four cycles of wetting-drying) for 8 days before being subjected to a leaching test. The results of this study revealed that the soil pH increased from 7.5 to 12.2 with the addition of 5% CCS. A similar soil pH was obtained when the soil was amended with 5% pure CaO. By leaching with 0.1 M HCl, extracted Cd, Pb, and Zn were reduced by up to 85, 85, and 91%, respectively. Therefore, CCS is suggested as a low-cost lime-based soil amendment for stabilizing heavy metals in abandoned mining sites.

TNT and RDX degradation and extraction from contaminated soil using subcritical water.

The use of explosives either for industrial or military operations have resulted in the environmental pollution, poses ecological and health hazard. In this work, a subcritical water extraction (SCWE) process at laboratory scale was used at varying water temperature (100-175 °C) and flow rate (0.5-1.5 mL min(-1)), to treat 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) contaminated soil, to reveal information with respect to the explosives removal (based on the analyses of soil residue after extraction), and degradation performance (based on the analyses of water extracts) of this process. Continuous flow subcritical water has been considered on removal of explosives to avoid the repartitioning of non-degraded compounds to the soil upon cooling which usually occurs in the batch system. In the SCWE experiments, near complete degradation of both TNT and RDX was observed at 175 °C based on analysis of water extracts and soil. Test results also indicated that TNT removal of >99% and a complete RDX removal were achieved by this process, when the operating conditions were 1 mL min(-1), and treatment time of 20 min, after the temperature reached 175 °C. HPLC-UV and ion chromatography analysis confirmed that the explosives underwent for degradation. The low concentration of explosives found in the process wastewater indicates that water recycling may be viable, to treat additional soil. Our results have shown in the remediation of explosives contaminated soil, the effectiveness of the continuous flow SCWE process.