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Lithium Metallurgy

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The ECPH Encyclopedia of Mining and Metallurgy

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Lithium metallurgy is a metallurgical technology of extracting metal lithium from lithium-containing minerals. In 1817, a Swedish, J. A. Arfvedson discovered lithium for the first time while studying lithium feldspar and named it after the Greek word lithos (stone). In 1818, British chemist H. Davy electrolyzed lithium carbonate to produce a small amount of metallic lithium. In 1855, German R. W. Bunsen and British A. Matthiessen produced a larger amount of metallic lithium by electrolyzing lithium chloride.

Lithium ore with industrial value mainly includes: spodumene (Li2O·Al2O3·4SiO2), lepidolite [(Li, K)2Al2(SiO3)3(F, OH)2], lapisite (LiAlSi4O10), and so on. There are a lot of salt lake brine, oil well water, gas field water, and hot spring water that contain lithium all over the world. The seawater contains 0.1–0.17 mg/L of lithium. Lithium metallurgy includes the preparation of lithium compounds and the preparation of metallic lithium.

Preparation of Lithium Compounds

Lithium...

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Further Reading

  1. Qiu Z-X (1988) Nonferrous metallurgy. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

    Liu Fengqin

  2. Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing, China

    Xu Kuangdi

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  1. Liu Fengqin
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  2. Xu Kuangdi
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Correspondence to Xu Kuangdi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing, Beijing, China

    Kuangdi Xu

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Fengqin, L., Kuangdi, X. (2023). Lithium Metallurgy. In: Xu, K. (eds) The ECPH Encyclopedia of Mining and Metallurgy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0740-1_760-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0740-1_760-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-0740-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-0740-1

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