Separation of Lithium Ion from Lithium-Cobalt Mixture using Electrodialysis Monovalent Membrane

Abstract

Electrodialysis is a separation process which ions are transported through semi permeable membranes under an influence of electric potential. In this research, electrodialysis using monovalent ion exchange membranes was applied to separate lithium ions from mixtures of lithium-cobalt aqueous solution. The study aims to examine factors that affect the performances of electrodialysis monovalent membrane, such as applied voltage, flow rate, and the concentration of cobalt as co-ion. The research was conducted using electrodialysis PC cell BED 64004, monovalent cation exchange membrane (PC-MVK) and monovalent anion exchange membrane (PC-MVA) produced by PCA-PolymerchemicAltmeier, GmbH, Heusweiler, Germany. The effect of applied voltage was studied by varying the voltage in the range of 1-4 volt/cell volt. The effects of flow rate and initial concentration of ion were studied by changing the flow rate (10, 15, and 20 L/h) and varying the ratio of initial concentration between Li and Co ions (100-100, 100-400, and 100-500 mg/L). The results exhibited that the highest separation capacity of lithium (99.40%) was obtained when using the optimum applied voltage of 1 volt/cell. Low energy consumption would be obtained when using a low voltage for the process separation. The optimum flow rate for the lithium separation using electrodialysis monovalent membrane in this research was 15 L/h. The greater flow rate reduced the current efficiency and increased the energy consumption. When the concentrations of cobalt were increased in the range of 100-500 mg/L, the results indicated a decrease of current efficiency but an increase of energy consumption showing the influence of concentration of cobalt to transportation of lithium ions and selectivity of monovalent membrane.

Application of Electrodialysis for the Selective Lithium Extraction Towards Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese from Leach Solutions Containing High Divalent Cations/Li Ratio

“…Neosepta The high selectivity of the Neosepta ® monovalent-selective cationic exchange membrane results in higher faradic efficiency for lithium(I) and higher permselectivity indexes for lithium(I) with respect to the different divalent cations. The permselectivity index for the Neosepta ® monovalent-selective cationic exchange membrane (P Li/Co = 5.6) is slightly lower than those reported in the work of Afifah et al (2018) [17], i.e., P(Li/Co) = 6.75 at a flowrate of 15 L h −1 and for a voltage of 3 V/Cell with a pack containing 5 pairs of monovalent selective membranes PC-MVA/PC-MVK (initial lithium(I) and cobalt(II) concentration = 100 mg L −1 and 300 mg L −1 , respectively) against P(Li/Co) = 5.6 in this study. However, the value reported in our work regarding the permselectivity index for lithium(I) toward manganese(II) is greater than that obtained by Chan et al [13] (P(Li/Mn) = 5.4 in the present study against P(Li/Mn) = 2.81 at a flowrate of 45 L h −1 and for a voltage of 6 V/Cell with a pack containing 2 pairs of standard anionic membranes PCA PC 400D and 2 Neosepta ® CMS cationic membranes, which are selective towards monovalent cations).…”

“…This technology may advantageously reduce the environmental impact, the capital expenditure and operation expenditure of hydrometallurgical processes. However, few studies concern its use in hydrometallurgical processes, and even less address the use of ED in lithium-ion battery recycling processes [13,[16][17][18] Lizuka et al [16] showed that the use of Selemion CMV cation exchange membrane and BP-1E bipolar membrane in electrodializer allowed in recovering selectively 99% lithium(I) from a leaching solution containing 138.82 mg L −1 lithium(I) and 1.179 g L −1 cobalt(II) produced by digesting LiCoO 2 in 1 mol L −1 nitric acid in the presence of 0.8 (vol) % of H 2 O 2 , providing that cobalt(II) was previously complexed by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) at pH = 4. Likewise, Afifah et al [17] studied the lithium(I)-cobalt(II) separation in nitric acid by electrodialysis by using five pairs of monovalent selective ions exchange membranes (PC Cell membranes PC-MVK/PC-MVA).…”

Li2CO3 Recovery through a Carbon-Negative Electrodialysis of Lithium-Ion Battery Leachates

“…Based on the total charge applied, the energy consumptions for ED were 0.24, 0.34, and 0.56 kW h/g Li in the three tests presented above, respectively. Comparing with values reported in the literature of over 192 kW h/g Li through a different ED method, 51 lower energy consumptions show the primary benefits of the proposed process. To precipitate Li 2 CO 3 , the catholyte was heated at 75 °C for 2 h. As a result, the heating step consumed 17 kW h/g Li, which was over 98% of the total energy provided.…”

Electro-Driven Materials and Processes for Lithium Recovery—A Review

“…Lithium and cobalt separations with monovalent selective ion exchange membranes such as PC-MVK were demonstrated. The value of the applied potential did not influence significantly the separation efficiency: the rise in voltage from 5 V to 15 V turned the separation factor from 98.6 to 99.4% [ 87 ]. The cobalt ion concentration in the feed solution affected the selectivity of the monovalent ion exchange membrane.…”

“…The addition of ion-exchange species on porous electrodes enables selective ion capturing and prevents re-adsorption during the discharge of the electrode [ 80 ]. The nature of the functional groups located on the CDI scaffold affects the electrostatic interactions with ions [ 85 , 86 ], reduces energy requirements [ 87 ], and improves the process stability [ 85 ].…”