HYDROMETALLURGICAL RECOVERY PROCESS FOR NICKEL-CADMIUM SPENT BATTERIES

The most recent literature on the treatment of nickel-cadmium spent ba tteries often describes mixed pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes w ith different options (precipitation, electrolysis, solvent extraction ) for the recovery of the metal. The present work shows a completely h ydrometallurgical process in which electrode powder is mechanically se parated from the external case and the metal supports, and afterwards, the powder is leached with acid and then electrolyzed. It was thus po ssible to recover cadmium with 1.2% of nickel; nickel was finally prec ipitated as carbonate, containing less than 0.5% of cadmium.