Hydrometallurgical

Aqueous solutions leach the desired metal from the rest. It can work on slag or directly on battery components. The difficulty is that different chain of leaching acids and reducing agents are required for each element. The process is time consuming and mixing anode and cathode elements can increase the complexity. Pre-treatment is required, which can either be a mechanical shredding process or pyrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgy can recover lithium.