Leaching with mixed organic acids and sulfuric acid to recover cobalt and lithium from lithium ion batteries.

Li-ion batteries (LIBs) should be recycled because of the environmental reasons and this type of waste represents an important secondary source of metals. This work aimed to evaluate the recovery of Co and Li from LIBs by hydrometallurgy. The efficiency of different leachants was tested: HSO (2 M), fermentation effluent with supplementation of organic acids (lactic, acetic, butyric and propionic acids) (3.