Preparation of lithium ion-sieve and utilizing in recovery of lithium from seawater

Abstract

Lithium is one of the most important light metals, which is widely used as raw materials for large-capacity rechargeable batteries, light aircraft alloys and nuclear fusion fuel. Seawater, which contains 250 billion tons of lithium in total, has thus recently been noticed as a possible resource of lithium. While, since the average concentration of lithium in seawater is quite low (0.17 mg·L^-1), enriching it to an adequate high density becomes the primary step for industrial applications. The adsorption method is the most prospective technology for increasing the concentration of lithium in liquid. Among the adsorbents for lithium, the ion-sieve is a kind of special absorbent which has high selectivity for Li⁺, especially the spinel manganese oxides (SMO), which among the series of ion-sieves, has become the most promising adsorption material for lithium. In this study, the SMO ion-sieve was prepared by a coprecipitation method. The preparation conditions were discussed and the sample characters were analyzed. Recovery of Li⁺ from seawater were studied in batch experiments using prepared ion-sieve, and the effect of solution pH and the uptake rates were also investigated in different Li⁺ solutions.

Keywords

lithium / ion-sieve / seawater / spinel manganese oxide

References

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