A process for recycling lithium-ion batteries comprising the steps of: a) shredding the lithium-ion batteries and immersing the residues in an organic solvent at a temperature under 40°C to safely discharge the batteries and producing shredded batteries residues and a liquid comprising organic compounds and lithium hexafluorophosphate; b) feeding the shredded batteries residues in a dryer producing a gaseous organic phase and dried batteries residues; c) feeding the dried batteries residues comprising magnetic and non-magnetic batteries residues to a magnetic separator removing magnetic particles from the dried batteries residues; d) grinding the non-magnetic batteries residues producing a particle size distribution comprising an upper range comprising plastics, and a middle and lower range of fine particles comprising aluminum, copper, metal and graphite; e) mixing the fine particles and an acid producing a slurry and leaching the slurry producing a leachate comprising metal sulfate and non-leachable materials; f) filtering the leachate to remove the non-leachable materials from the leachate; g) feeding the leachate into a sulfide precipitation tank removing ionic copper impurities from said leachate; h) neutralizing the leachate at a pH of 3.5 to 5 removing remaining iron and aluminum from said leachate; i) mixing the leachate with an organic extraction solvent producing an aqueous phase containing lithium and an organic phase containing cobalt, manganese and nickel; j) crystallizing sodium sulfate from the aqueous phase containing lithium producing a liquor containing lithium and sodium sulfate crystals; k) adding sodium carbonate to the liquor and heating up the sodium carbonate and the liquor producing a precipitate of lithium carbonate; and l) drying and recuperating the lithium carbonate. a) shredding the lithium-ion batteries and immersing the residues in an organic solvent at a temperature under 40°C to safely discharge the batteries and producing shredded batteries residues and a liquid comprising organic compounds and lithium hexafluorophosphate; b) feeding the shredded batteries residues in a dryer producing a gaseous organic phase and dried batteries residues; c) feeding the dried batteries residues comprising magnetic and non-magnetic batteries residues to a magnetic separator removing magnetic particles from the dried batteries residues; d) grinding the non-magnetic batteries residues producing a particle size distribution comprising an upper range comprising plastics, and a middle and lower range of fine particles comprising aluminum, copper, metal and graphite; e) mixing the fine particles and an acid producing a slurry and leaching the slurry producing a leachate comprising metal sulfate and non-leachable materials; f) filtering the leachate to remove the non-leachable materials from the leachate; g) feeding the leachate into a sulfide precipitation tank removing ionic copper impurities from said leachate; h) neutralizing the leachate at a pH of 3.5 to 5 removing remaining iron and aluminum from said leachate; i) mixing the leachate with an organic extraction solvent producing an aqueous phase containing lithium and an organic phase containing cobalt, manganese and nickel; j) crystallizing sodium sulfate from the aqueous phase containing lithium producing a liquor containing lithium and sodium sulfate crystals; k) adding sodium carbonate to the liquor and heating up the sodium carbonate and the liquor producing a precipitate of lithium carbonate; and l) drying and recuperating the lithium carbonate. <EOS>