b'Recovery of high purityNovel closed loop chemical process reduces energy use and critical elements fromwaste associated with lithium-ion battery recycling.spent lithium-ion batteriesC losed loop recycling is a clean process because reagents and materials are reused through the process instead of generating waste. A viable without waste emission closed loop recycling process for spent lithium-ion batteries requires the following: (1) high recovery efficiency of the critical materials from batteries, (2) low chemical and energy consumption for the recycling process, (3) low environmental footprint for the process, and (4) comparable quality of the generated products from spent material as compared to product generated from virgin material. However, in the recycling flowsheet, sodium sulfate is unavoidably generated from either PROJECT NUMBER: the leaching solution purification step or the nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC)22P1071-027FP hydroxide precursor synthesis step. After the precursor synthesis, the sodium sulfate stays inside the residual solution with ammonium hydroxide and trace amounts TOTAL APPROVED AMOUNT:of NMC. To eliminate the footprint of the recycling process and reuse the residual $132,000 over 1 year solution as the ammonium hydroxide source, the influence of sodium sulfate on PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:the co-precipitation of NMC hydroxide was investigated in this project. First, the Qiang Wang synthesis conditions, including reagents flow rate, pH value, temperature, metal sulfate to ammonium hydroxide ratio, and reaction time, were systematically studied CO-INVESTIGATOR: to get spherical precursor with the highest tape density. By understanding the Robert Fox, INLinfluence of those conditions on the tape density, particle size, and morphology, COLLABORATOR: sodium sulfate impurity with different concentrations was introduced into the Particle Technology Labs process reactor. Without introducing sodium sulfate into the reactor, the tape density was as high as 1.99 g/ml, which is higher than the value of 1.91 g/ml reported in the literature. The influence of sodium sulfate on NMC precursor tape density and morphology is limited. With 1.25 M sodium sulfate introduced into ammonium hydroxide solution, the tape density decreased from 1.99 g/ml to 1.98 g/ml. With 2 M sodium sulfate introduced in, the tape density decreased to 1.93 g/ml. X-ray diffraction characterization showed that sodium sulfate has limited effect on the edge lengths (a, b and c) of the NMC precursor unit cell crystal. Without sodium 88'