Abstract
The growing commitment to green energy technologies coupled with the rising usage of portable electronic devices has caused a rapid increase in lithium market demand. Currently, in the USA brines are the primary source for lithium due to their utilization of cheap and inexpensive processes; however, long lead times and low extraction yields raise concerns for potential supply chain disruptions. In this work, we examine a novel mechanochemical process for rapid lithium extraction from lithium-rich spodumene ore. We demonstrate multiple mechanochemically assisted ion-exchange reactions between α-spodumene and various solid leaching agents resulting in lithium extraction yields of up to 40 or 77% without or with a secondary dilute hydrochloric acid leach, respectively. Furthermore, we propose mechanisms for this enhanced lithium extraction from α-spodumene both with and without a secondary acid leach.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the Critical Materials Innovation Hub funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing and Manufacturing Technologies Office. The ICP-OES analysis was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences. The Ames Laboratory is operated for the U.S. DOE by Iowa State University under Contract No. DE‐AC02‐07CH11358. The authors would like to thank the late Prof. Vitalij Pecharsky for all his insights and useful discussions on this work. The authors would also like to thank Jordan Schlagel, Taylor Schlagel, and Roger Rink for providing technical support as well as Piedmont Lithium for supplying the Spodumene source material.
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Del Rose, T., Li, Y., Qi, L., Hlova, I.Z. (2024). Mechanochemical Extraction of Lithium from α-Spodumene at Low Temperatures. In: Forsberg, K., et al. Rare Metal Technology 2024. TMS 2024. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50236-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50236-1_15
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