US Patent 11077452 Process, apparatus, and system for recovering materials from batteries

The present application provides a process to recover materials from rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, thus recycling them. The process involves processing the batteries into a size-reduced feed stream; and then, via a series of separation, isolation, and/or leaching steps, allows for recovery of a copper product, cobalt, nickel, and/or manganese product, and a lithium product; and, optional recovery of a ferrous product, aluminum product, graphite product, etc. An apparatus and system for carrying out size reduction of batteries under immersion conditions is also provided.