Well well well, this is quite interesting. I'm very curious just how easy this is. If this could be done on a small scale safely then home kits could be made. The key part is:

The trick to their method: Instead of leeching with an excess of citric acid like conventional methods, they use a relatively small amount. Because of this, only two of the three acid groups in the citric acid dissociate.

The released protons break up the lithium-oxygen bonds, releasing lithium ions from the NCM into the solution. Bonds between the other metal ions and the oxygen ions are also broken. Nickel, cobalt, and manganese enter the solution, where they are bound into stable complexes by the citric acid anions.

The third acid group of the citric acid then reacts with the hydroxyl group on the same molecule. A ring closure occurs in an intramolecular esterification (Fischer lactonization) reaction. This facilitates the reaction of the intermediates with each other to make a polyester, which gels into solid particles that can easily be separated out. Energy consumption and CO2 emissions are significantly less than in conventional hydrometallurgical recycling processes.

#recycling #lithium #batteries #sciencenews #technews

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-11-recycling-batteries-citric-acid-highly.html