How to extract Lithium from batteries (and cobalt as well) #chemistry #experiment #science #fire
Summary
TLDRIn this educational video, the host demonstrates how to extract lithium salts from lithium-polymer batteries for a visually striking 'foser' fire. They begin by disassembling two types of batteries, focusing on the metal shell and mixed lithium cobalt oxide. After dissolving the oxide in diluted hydrochloric acid, they filter out the copper foil and graphite, which are not needed. The video then details the process of separating lithium from cobalt using oxalic acid, resulting in a pink cobalt oxalate precipitate. Despite challenges with impurities, the host successfully isolates lithium chloride, which produces a vibrant pink flame when heated, illustrating the presence of lithium.
Takeaways
- 🔬 The video demonstrates how to extract lithium salts from lithium-polymer batteries.
- 🔋 It's essential to use rechargeable electronics like old laptops or cameras that contain lithium.
- 🛠️ The process starts by removing the plastic casing and opening the battery to access the metal shell and internal components.
- 🧪 A mixture of lithium and cobalt oxide is found inside, which is the primary target for extraction.
- ⚠️ Safety is highlighted by mentioning the need to avoid fire hazards when handling the oxide.
- 🌐 The script references a Wikipedia page for the chemical composition and properties of the materials involved.
- 🔑 The separation of lithium from cobalt is achieved by dissolving the oxides in diluted hydrochloric acid.
- 🔬 A cobalt chloride complex forms, turning the solution red, indicating the presence of cobalt.
- 📊 The script describes an unsuccessful attempt at directly extracting lithium chloride by recrystallization due to insufficient lithium concentration.
- 🌐 The successful method involves boiling down the solution and using oxalic acid to precipitate cobalt oxalate, leaving lithium salts in solution.
- 🔥 A flam test is conducted to confirm the presence of lithium, which produces a pink coloration when heated.
- 🏺 The final step involves boiling down the solution to obtain solid lithium salts, which can be used for various applications.
Q & A
What is the main objective of the video?
-The main objective of the video is to extract lithium salts from Lithium Polymer batteries and demonstrate the resulting lithium salts' flam color.
What types of batteries are used in the video?
-The video uses two different types of Lithium Polymer batteries, which are found in rechargeable electronics like old laptops or cameras.
Why is it necessary to remove the plastic casing of the batteries?
-The plastic casing is removed to be left with only the metal shell, which contains the roll with the mixed lithium Cobalt oxide needed for the extraction process.
What is the purpose of separating the copper foil with graphite from the oxides foil?
-The copper foil with graphite is separated because it is not useful for the lithium extraction process and can be discarded.
Why is diluted hydrochloric acid used to dissolve the mixed oxide?
-Diluted hydrochloric acid is used to dissolve the mixed oxide to avoid fire hazards, as the oxide can make organic compounds in the foil take fire.
What causes the bright red coloration of the solution when the oxide is dissolved in hydrochloric acid?
-The bright red coloration is due to the cobalt chloride complex with water.
Why doesn't the direct extraction of lithium chloride by recrystallization work in this case?
-Direct extraction of lithium chloride by recrystallization doesn't work because there is not enough lithium compared to the amount of cobalt in the solution, preventing the salts from separating.
How is cobalt separated from the lithium salts in the solution?
-Cobalt is separated by selectively precipitating Cobalt oxalate as a solid using oxalic acid, which results in a clear solution with the cobalt removed.
What is the significance of the pink color of the cobalt oxalate precipitate?
-The pink color of the cobalt oxalate precipitate indicates the presence of cobalt in the solution, which is important for monitoring the separation process.
Why does the solution turn dark green turquoise after most of the oxalic acid is removed?
-The solution turns dark green turquoise due to metal impurities such as nickel and manganese, which do not affect the flam color of lithium salts.
What is the final step to observe the flam color of the lithium salts?
-The final step is to heat and mix the remaining solid lithium salts with ethanol, which results in a cool flam color.
Outlines
🔬 Extracting Lithium Salts from Lithium-Polymer Batteries
This paragraph outlines the process of extracting lithium salts from lithium-polymer batteries. The video begins by introducing the project and the need for rechargeable batteries, which can be sourced from old electronics like laptops or cameras. The process involves removing the plastic casing to expose the metal shell and then opening it to access the roll containing the mixed lithium cobalt oxide. A copper foil with graphite is also present but is deemed useless for this purpose and is set aside. The mixed oxide contains not only lithium but also cobalt, and the video explains the use of diluted hydrochloric acid to dissolve the oxide. The reaction produces a bright red solution due to the cobalt chloride complex. The video also discusses an unsuccessful attempt to extract lithium chloride directly by recrystallization due to the low concentration of lithium compared to cobalt. The paragraph concludes with a mention of a more successful method to be demonstrated later.
🔥 Advanced Lithium Extraction and Flam Test
The second paragraph delves into the advanced stages of lithium extraction, focusing on the separation of cobalt from lithium using oxalic acid. The narrator demonstrates the selective precipitation of cobalt oxalate, which is more effective with oxalic acid compared to ammonium oxalate. The process involves dissolving the oxalic acid in water and adding it to the solution, resulting in a pink precipitate of cobalt oxalate. The narrator also addresses the chemical equilibrium and the insolubility of cobalt oxalate, which allows the reaction to proceed despite the presence of hydrochloric acid. After filtering and drying the cobalt oxalate, the remaining solution is boiled down to precipitate oxalic acid crystals. The narrator then discusses the appearance of a dark green turquoise color due to metal impurities and the decision to boil down the solution further to obtain a solid, which, when tested with a flam test, exhibits a characteristic pink coloration indicating the presence of lithium. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to like and subscribe, and a teaser for the next video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Lithium salts
💡Lithium-polymer batteries
💡Mixed lithium cobalt oxide
💡Hydrochloric acid
💡Cobalt chloride complex
💡Recrystallization
💡Ethanol
💡Oxalic acid
💡Flame test
💡Metal impurities
Highlights
Introduction to extracting lithium salts from Lithium Polymer batteries.
Using any lithium-containing rechargeable electronics like old laptops or cameras.
Peeling the plastic casing to expose the metal shell of the battery.
Opening the battery to access the roll containing mixed lithium Cobalt oxide.
Separating the copper foil with graphite, which is not needed for the process.
Dissolving the mixed oxide in diluted hydrochloric acid to extract lithium.
Caution about the potential fire hazard due to the oxide's interaction with organic compounds.
Observation of the solution turning bright red due to cobalt chloride complex with water.
Attempt to extract lithium chloride by recrystallization, which was unsuccessful.
Testing the presence of lithium in the Cobalt salt using a flame test.
Unsuccessful attempt to extract lithium chloride with ethanol.
Successful method to separate lithium from cobalt using oxalic acid.
Precipitation of cobalt oxalate as a solid to separate from lithium.
Adding more oxalic acid to the solution to clear any remaining cobalt chloride.
Drying the cobalt oxalate outside to obtain its pink stable form.
Boiling down the solution to precipitate oxalic acid crystals.
Cooling the solution to room temperature to maximize crystal precipitation.
Observation of the solution turning dark green turquoise due to metal impurities.
Boiling down the solution to a solid to observe the flam color of lithium.
Final observation of a nice flam color when the lithium-containing solid is heated.
Encouragement for viewers to like and subscribe for more educational content.
Transcripts
hello everyone and welcome back to
another video today we will try to
extract lithium salts from Lithium
Polymer batteries and make some nice
fosier
fire okay so we first need some
batteries I have here two different
types but it doesn't really matter as
long as there is lithium in them you can
find them in most rechargeable
Electronics such as an old laptop or a
camera we start by peeling the plastic
casing to be left with only the metal
shell here is a time lapse of me doing
it then we somehow open them using
something sharp or even a saw inside we
will find a roll which contains the
mixed lithium Cobalt oxide that we need
you will also find a copper foil with
graphite but this is useless here and
shall be separated so in a beaker I put
it aside our oxides foil and throwed the
rest as I just said the compound here is
not just lithium but a mixed oxide of
cobalt and lithium with this formul
formula to separate the metals we will
first dissolve them in diluted
hydrochloric acid to avoid any fire
hazard because the oxide can actually
make the organic compounds in the foil
take
fire the amount of acid doesn't need to
be precise just add enough to dissolve a
maximum amount of
product as you may have seen on the
Wikipedia page the Cobalt in this oxide
is in the rare plus three oxidation
state therefore it can oxidize the acid
to chlorine gaze to a small extent so be
careful of the gases produced also we
noticed that the solution turned to a
bright red coloration this is due to the
cobalt chloride complex with water if I
did not add the water to dissolve the
acid the coloration would be a deep dark
blue which you can see reappearing when
water gets removed from the
solution then we filter everything and
wash the foils with some
water
okay so basically my first method was to
directly extract lithium chloride by
recrystallization because it was in
theory possible but there is just not
enough lithium compared to the amount of
cobalt in solution so the salts don't
actually separate when boiling down I
have found another way to separate them
which actually work but I will show that
in a minute before that here is a quick
Montage of this
attempt
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as the water gets removed the solution
become more and more blue I test the
presence of lithium in the Cobalt salt
by a flam test lithium ion makes a cool
pink coloration while Cobalt doesn't
appear in the flame then I tried to
extract lithium chloride with ethanol
but it didn't work either so anyway here
is the real working method we first
boiled down everything to get the solids
dry salts and weight
them according to this paper we should
be able to selectively precipitate
Cobalt oxalate as a solid by using
oxalic acid or ammonium
oxalate I tried to test the two intest
tubes to see which one gives the best
result as you can see the solution is
much more clear on the right test tube
with oxalic acid so we will use that
one I don't remember how I did the math
but basically for 12 G of lithium and
cobalt chloride we will approximatively
need 14 G of oxalic acid dihydrate
if you do the calculations yourself
remember that your oxalic acid is most
likely the dihydrate form and you need
to adapt the mol Mass anyway we dissolve
it in water and add it to our solution
and a pink precipitate of cobalt oxalate
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forms here we might think that this
reaction can't happen as hydrochloric
acid is stronger than oxalic acid but
because Cobalt oxalate is insoluble the
equilibrium shifts accordingly to the
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equation as we compare our Beaker to the
test tube we can see that the top
solution layer is still a bit pink which
indicate that there might be some cobalt
chloride left so to fix that we can add
a little a little bit more of oxalic
acid because we will separate the excess
when boiling down
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anyway then we filter the solution
through a coffee filter and can observe
that the Cobalt oxalate turns gray on
contact with air and water when it gets
dry it's stable in the pink form though
so I just put it in a pan to dry outside
but if you don't care you can dispose of
it if you want cobalt metal
you can react it with aluminium foil in
a displacement reaction or get it by
decomposition in high temperatures with
the absence of oxygen to get pyrophoric
particles of
cobalt then we place the solution on a
hot plate and boil it down until oxalic
acid crystals start to appear we cool
down the solution to room temperature so
that a maximum amount of crystals
precipitate and then filter to get rid
of them they can also probably be
recycled if you
want after most of the oxalic acid was
removed the solution became a dark green
turquoise color this is due to metal
impurities such as nickel manganese and
others if you still have a big amount of
solution left when this happens you can
probably recrystallize lithium chloride
but here I just wanted to show the cool
flam color so I boiled down the solution
until a solid was left the metal
impurities won't affect the flam col
that's why I didn't bother removing them
also I had a small volume of solution
due to losses when trying the first
extraction
method anyway after all of this we can
observe this nice flam when the solid is
heated and mixed with ethanol methanol
would in theory be better but I didn't
had
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any
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if you enjoyed the video or leared
something don't forget to leave a like
And subscribe thanks for watching and
see you next
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time
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