Recovery of lithium carbonate by acid digestion and hydrometallurgical processing from mechanically activated lepidolite

Abstract

Lithium extraction from hard-rock ores has regained importance due to the increased demand for this metal to supply the growing battery market. Therefore, several studies have been focused on the lithium extraction from ores, however, leaching and purification steps are sparsely studied. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the main factors affecting the water leaching step and the subsequent purification operations for lithium recovery from a lepidolite concentrate, which was processed by mechanical activation and sulphuric acid digestion. In the leaching step, among the variables studied, only one, the leaching temperature, showed a significant effect on the lithium extraction, taking into account the range of values tested. Thus, the recommended operating value for the leaching time and the L/S ratio is the minimum, while for the leaching temperature is 50°C. After optimizing the leaching operation, the purification of the leachate, by neutralization, was thoroughly performed by efficient removal of impurities (Fe, Al, Mn and Ca), allowing to obtain lithium carbonate as final product, as well as other relevant by-products, such as rubidium and potassium alums.

Highly Selective and Pollution‐Free Electrochemical Extraction of Lithium by a Polyaniline/LixMn2O4 Cell

“…Li is now obtained mostly from lithium ores and brine lakes. Li extraction from ores suffers from high energy consumption and technical complexities, which include high‐temperature calcination, subsequent dissolution, and difficult elemental separation . For these reasons, most Li (≈80 %) is currently recovered from brine lakes through a “lime soda evaporation process” .…”

“…Li extraction from ores suffers from high energy consumption and technical complexities, which include high-temperature calcination, subsequentdissolution, and difficult elemental separation. [2][3][4] For theser easons,m ostL i(% 80 %) is currently recoveredf rom brine lakes through a" lime soda evaporation process". [5] In this process, brine water is pumped into shallow ponds for one-year-long solar evaporation to precipitate the chlorides and sulfateso fK + ,N a + ,M g 2 + ,a nd Ca 2 + ,a nd is then treated with excess lime to remove magnesium, and finally with sodium carbonate to produce the insoluble lithium carbonate.…”

Enhancing lithium leaching by mechanical activation

“…Previous publications showed that mechanical activation and mechanical milling have beneficial effects on the leaching of solid phases in minerals and ore concentrates [8][9][10][11]. These investigations indicated significant effects of mechanical activation processes for multiphase systems such as MoS 2 -Mg [12], carbothermic reduction reaction [13] and metallothermic reduction of metal sulphide [14][15].…”

The use of mica schist from Indonesia as raw material for lithium extraction process using sulfate roasting and acid leaching

“…In general, lithium mineral processing is divided into four stages that are comminution, beneficiation, roasting and leaching. Roasting using additives is an important thing because it can reduce the time and temperature of the roasting process [4]. Prior to roasting at high temperature, lithium ore is added with additives such as sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate or calcium carbonate to convert the compounds contained in lithium ore to become soluble species [5].…”