Author Identifier
Amir Razmjou: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3554-5129
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Desalination and Water Treatment
Volume
320
Publisher
Elsevier
School
Mineral Recovery Research Centre / School of Engineering
Abstract
Laboratory bench scale experiments were performed to develop a process for electrodialysis (ED) of LiCl liquor from spodumene leaching and purification to produce LiOH solution, for subsequent conversion by evaporative crystallisation to LiOH·H2O crystals as the end-product. Nafion® 117 cation-selective membranes were used in all experiments. The small electrolytic test cell achieved an average LiOH production rate of 7.5 g/h with 83 % coulombic efficiency and specific electrical consumption of 6.5 kWh/kg LiOH. In the large electrolytic test cell, a higher average LiOH production rate of 11.2 g/h was attained but at lower coulombic efficiency (62 %) and greater specific electrical consumption (8.8 kWh/kg LiOH). In a longer period ED process, there was a further decrease in coulombic efficiency and an increase in the specific electrical consumption. Also, the cation-selective membranes were found susceptible to the deportment of cation and anion impurities (i.e., Na+, K+, and Cl-), which impacted the LiOH·H2O product purity. Higher purity LiOH·H2O was obtained from the LiOH liquor produced in the ED testwork by subjecting the liquor to partial evaporation under a nitrogen gas blanket. Further optimisation of the process parameters is expected to enhance the yield and purity of the LiOH·H2O product and reduce operating costs.
DOI
10.1016/j.dwt.2024.100778
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
Ang, K. L., Barmi, M., Boroumand, Y., Razmjou, A., & Nikoloski, A. N. (2024). Production of LiOH· H2O from lithium chloride by electrodialysis and crystallisation. Desalination and Water Treatment, 320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dwt.2024.100778