Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the most common batteries used in Electric Vehicles (EVs) due to high energy and power density and longer-life span. Alongside EVs increased production, the demand for LIBs has risen as well. For metal recovery from LIBs, end-of-life is the most used feedstock in the recycling industry, nonetheless rejected scrap from production of cathodes is also a high source of material. Production waste rates of LIBs are reported to be approximately 5% to 30%, which may vary with manufacturers.

Among LIB chemistries, Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) cathodes are preferred for applications that require continuous cycling. Considering their high concentrations of critical materials, such as Cobalt and Lithium, NMC recycling is crucial. Electrochemical recycling of LIBs, due to its selective metal recovery, is a growing interested in recycling companies. However, as a result of NMC complex chemical composition the recovery rate of high purity metals from electrochemical processes is limited.

This study proposes a green chemistry approach for electrochemical recycling of NMC-111 production waste. A complete separation of the active material from the aluminium current collector and the PVDF binder was achieved. This pretreatment was carried out using a chemical bath containing 1M methanesulfonic acid and 2M sodium hydroxide, respectively, for one hour. An electrochemical treatment is then tested and studied using voltages ranging from -1V to 1V, using 1M methanesulfonic acid as electrolyte, to recover metals from the active material in multiple stages of the process at room temperature. The study also presents the use of a drum electrode setup as the working electrode, which increases the dissolution kinetics of the material in the electrochemical cell.