Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in portable electronic devices and electric vehicles due to their high energy density, high reversible capacity and environmental friendliness. Among them, the positive electrode material is one of the key factors that determine the performance of the battery. Nickel cobalt manganese acid
Lithium (LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2) is currently the most mainstream ternary battery material and is considered to be the future development trend. It uses cobalt salt, manganese salt, and nickel salt as raw materials, and obtains different electrode characteristics by adjusting the ratio of cobalt, manganese, and nickel. Compared with lithium iron phosphate and low-nickel ternary materials, high-nickel ternary materials have good performance and cost advantages and are widely used due to the increase in the proportion of nickel.
Advantages of high nickel

①Improve energy density: Increased nickel content can effectively increase energy density. NCM811 currently has a single energy density of 260wh/kg and a group of 180wh/kg. Compared with NCM523, the energy density can be increased by 25%, and the energy density will be further optimized in the future. The monomer reaches 300wh/kg+, and the system reaches 200wh/kg.
②Cost reduction: Due to the relative scarcity of upstream cobalt resources, high supply concentration costs, and large price fluctuations, high nickel content can reduce upstream raw material restrictions and reduce costs.

high nickel market
As far as the global demand for high-nickel ternary cathodes is concerned, as the energy density requirements continue to increase, the trend of high-nickel continues to advance. According to the data, the global demand for high-nickel ternary cathodes will reach 91,000 tons in 2020, and it is expected to reach 580,000 tons by 2025 as the market continues to develop. At present, there is still a lot of room for high-nickel penetration in the world, coupled with the continuous development of the market demand for ternary batteries, the future of high-nickel ternary batteries is a blue ocean.

Nickel recovery
From the process flow, lithium ion battery recycling technology is mainly divided into hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy. 1. Pyrometallurgical treatment of waste batteries, although the process is relatively environmentally friendly and simple, and the treatment of waste water and waste gas is relatively easy, it may cause irreversible effects on the performance of battery active materials. 2. The hydrometallurgical process is simple and practical, and there are examples of industrial application at present.

Process flow of hydrometallurgical extraction of cobalt, nickel and lithium from waste batteries:
1. Alkaline extraction of aluminum from waste batteries after pretreatment
2. Use H2O2+H2SO4 to extract slag, extract copper and cobalt, and recover copper by electrodeposition in the leach solution
3. Use P204 to extract and remove impurities, and P507 to extract and separate cobalt and lithium
4. Sulfuric acid back extraction to recover cobalt