Ultra-high-purity lithium can be recycled at low cost

A research team from the Japan Quantum Science and Technology Research and Development Institute has developed ultra-high-purity lithium (99.99%) recovery technology using high-performance ion conductors as lithium separation membranes and ion conductor lithium separation technology, which can be used from automotive lithium-ion batteries. Low-cost recovery of ultra-high-purity lithium as a battery raw material.

The technology could cut the cost of lithium hydroxide, the raw material for batteries, to less than half the import price. In addition, by increasing the lithium concentration in the water leachate to the maximum concentration at which the lithium in the black powder dissolves, the rate of lithium recovery is increased.