In an optimized discharge environment, the discharge efficiency can match or even surpass that of NaCl aqueous solution discharge. The residual voltage of the battery can be discharged to below 1V within one day and below 0.5V within five days, which is sufficient to safely carry out subsequent crushing processes. In addition, batteries discharged using a solution have severe corrosive holes on the battery surface, while powder discharge batteries are like new batteries and show no obvious appearance changes. It is foreseeable that powder discharge may replace traditional solution discharge methods in future commercial applications.

Developing a fully aqueous precipitation process separates each metal oxide in the most widely used lithium batteries on the market (LFP, NCM, LCA, LMO, LCO). By adding high-selectivity precipitants to the solution, the target ions can be directly precipitated. After the centrifugation process, the target product can be obtained. In order to maximize the recovery rate of each product, the solid will enter the next batch of acid leaching experiments, while the liquid will enter the next step of experiments to separate individual elements. The entire process involves seven separation steps, and except for the acid leaching experiment, all experiments are carried out at room temperature. The reduction rate of iron phosphate and aluminum hydroxide in all products is quite high, and for the manganese, cobalt, and nickel parts, which are generally considered difficult to separate, we have continuously tried and integrated various precipitation agents, precipitation intervals, and temperatures, and successfully separated them using two aqueous precipitation methods with pH control. From the current experimental results and the above discussion, it can be seen that we have successfully integrated a fully aqueous wet process for all types of lithium batteries, and all products can achieve a purity of over 90wt%.