NOVELTY - Separating materials from electrochemical cells, comprises comminuting electrochemical cells, screening the comminuted cells to separate electrode active material particles from other electrochemical cell components, mixing the particles with a carrier fluid to form a slurry, subjecting the slurry to a magnetic field of sufficient magnetic field intensity to magnetize paramagnetic particles in the slurry, separating the magnetized particles from the slurry, and collecting at least one of the two or more lithium metal compounds as separated electrode active material concentrates.    USE - The method is useful for separating electrode active materials from electrochemical cells such as lithium ion batteries (claimed) to form electrode active material concentrates to manufacture electrochemical cell devices, where the electrochemical cells are prismatic pouch lithium-ion battery, electric double-layer capacitors ( e.g. supercapacitors or ultracapacitors) and scrap electrochemical cells (e.g. scrap batteries), secondary batteries (e.g. nickel-metal hydride, nickel-zinc, nickel-cadmium, and lead-acid rechargeable batteries) used in gasoline-powered automobiles, hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles, industrial equipment, power tools, and consumer electronics (e.g. notebook computers, tablet computers, cellular telephones and smart phones and other rechargeable electronic devices), single-use disposable batteries (e.g. primary batteries such as zinc-carbon batteries and alkaline batteries) used in electrical and electronic device applications and in larger scrap device waste streams.    ADVANTAGE - The method separates the recyclable electrode materials from electrochemical cell scrap in a robust manner by eliminating the need for pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical recycling processes to recover electrode active materials from scrap electrochemical cells.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Separating materials from electrochemical cells, comprises either (a) comminuting electrochemical cells comprising lithium-ion electrochemical cells, (b) screening the comminuted cells to separate electrode active material particles from other electrochemical cell components, where the electrode active material particles comprise two or more lithium metal compounds, (c) mixing the electrode active material particles with a carrier fluid to form a slurry, (d) subjecting the slurry to a magnetic field of sufficient magnetic field intensity to magnetize paramagnetic particles in the slurry, (e) separating the magnetized particles from the slurry using magnetic force induced between the magnetized particles and an active magnetic surface in contact with the slurry, where the separated particles comprise one of the two or more lithium metal compounds, and (f) collecting at least one of the two or more lithium metal compounds as separated electrode active material concentrates, or removing electrode active materials from electrochemical cells comprising lithium ion batteries, forming a slurry comprising electrode active material particles comprising at least one lithium metal compound, and comprising the steps (d, e) as above per se, or the steps (d, e) as above per se. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a system for the separation of materials from electrochemical cells, comprising a set of magnetic separators connected in series, where each successive magnetic separator comprises a higher magnetic field intensity or a higher magnetic field gradient, and separates an electrode active material comprising a lower magnetic susceptibility value from a slurry comprising a set of electrode active materials.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic view of a high-intensity magnetic filter/wet high-intensity magnetic separator system.    High-intensity magnetic filter/wet high-intensity magnetic separator system (50)    Separation box (54)    Slurry feed (60)    Separation box inlet port (63)    Separation box outlet port. (65)