Preparing lithium-ion battery anode materials from graphitized spent cathode carbon of aluminum electrolysis

Graphitized spent cathode carbon (SCC) is a hazardous solid waste generated in the aluminum electrolysis process. In this study, a process of flotation-acid leaching is proposed to purify the graphitized SCC, and its use as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries is explored. Optimization of the flotation and acid leaching processes was carried out separately using one-way experiments. The best performance was achieved at 90% flotation particle size of -200 mesh, slurry concentration of 10%, rotation speed of 1600 r/min, inflatable capacity of 0.2 m3/h, and SCC carbon content of 93%. Subsequently, the SCC carbon content reached 99.58% at a leaching concentration of 5 mol/L, a leaching time of 100 min, a leaching temperature of 85 ℃, and an HCl/FSCC volume ratio of 5:1. The purified graphitized SCC(FSCC-CL) was used as an anode material with an initial capacity of 348.2 mAh/g at 0.1C and a reversible capacity of 347.8 mAh/g after 100 cycles. Compared with commercial graphite, FSCC-CL has better reversibility and cycle stability. Therefore, after purification, SCC is an important anode material candidate, and this method also provides a feasible way for the resourceful recycling of SCC.