Towards sustainable battery recycling : investigating ammonium-based deep eutectic solvents for NMC cathode material recovery

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Fahmy, Rabiah Nizah Md and Walvekar, Rashmi and Yi, Foo Chuan and Ler, Lai Yong and Khalid, Mohammad (2025) Towards sustainable battery recycling : investigating ammonium-based deep eutectic solvents for NMC cathode material recovery. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 13 (5). 118599. ISSN 2213-3437 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2025.118599)

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Abstract

The rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry has led to an unprecedented demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), resulting in the accumulation of large quantities of spent batteries that pose significant environmental challenges. This study presents a sustainable recycling approach for nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode materials using ammonium-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as leaching agents. Two DESs were synthesised using ethylammonium chloride (EAC) and diethylammonium chloride (dEAC) as hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) and ethylene glycol (EG) as a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA). The structural and thermal characteristics of the DESs were confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The leaching process was systematically optimised by varying the DES molar ratio (1:2–1:5), reaction time (8–48 h), and temperature (25–120 °C). The optimal conditions were identified as 100 °C for 24 h, achieving leaching efficiencies of 83.7, 98.2, 98.4, and 50.1 % for Li, Co, Ni, and Mn, respectively. Notably, this method avoids the use of conventional volatile acids and offers a greener and more efficient route for LIB recycling than conventional methods. The high recovery rates of critical metals highlight the promise of DES-based systems in promoting sustainable battery circularity and mitigating both resource depletion and environmental impacts.

ORCID iDs

Fahmy, Rabiah Nizah Md, Walvekar, Rashmi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8283-1278, Yi, Foo Chuan, Ler, Lai Yong and Khalid, Mohammad;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)